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A A I N Q U 1 11 Y

THE DIFFERENCE OF STYLE

OBSERVABLE IN

ancient <§taaa ^atnttngs,

ESPECIALLY IN ENGLAND

HINTS ON GLASS PAINTING,

BY AN AMATEUR.

PROBA EST MATERIA, SI PROBUM AD1IIBE AS ARTIFICEM."

Erasmi Adagia.

PART L— TEXT.

O X FORD:
JOHN HENRY PARKER.

MDCCCXLVII.

"QUAKE QUIS TANDEM ME REPREHEND AT, ACT QUIS MIHI JURE SUCCENSEAT, 81,
QUANTUM CETERIS AD SUAS RES OBEUNDAS, QUANTUM AD FESTOS DIES 1UDORUM CELE-
BRANDOS, QUANTUM AD ALIAS VOLUPTATES, ET AD IPSAM REQUIEM ANIMI, ET CORPORIS
CONCEDITUR TEMPORUM ; QUANTUM AIII TRIBUUNT TEMPESTIVIS CONVIVIIS ; QUANTUM
DENIQUE ALE2E, QUANTUM PIL.E ; TANTUM MIHI EGOMET AD HJ3C STUDIA RECOLENtfA
SUMSERO V — CIC. PRO ARCH.

PREFACE.

The following work is the result of the study and atten-
tion which, at intervals of leisure during the last fifteen or*
sixteen years, have been given to a favourite pursuit. At
a very early period it occurred to me that the varieties of
ancient glass painting were capable of a classification
similar to that established by the late Mr. Rickmana with
regard to Gothic Architecture; and in the year 1838 I
accordingly sketched out a little work, which, though not
intended for publication, was shewn in MS. to several of
my friends and others interested in the subject. This
work has formed the nucleus of the present. My materials
were continually increasing on my hand, but I had no idea
whatever of giving them to the press, until in a conversa-
tion with Mr. Parker he suggested that the publication of
my observations might prove useful in directing atten-
tion to the study of painted glass, and in facilitating the
investigations of others.

a I have adhered as nearly as I could Wished terms. See some sensible re-
to Rickman's nomenclature from a sense marks on this subject, Archaeological
of the inconvenience which results from Journal, vol. iii. p. 372 et seq.
any unnecessary departure from esta-

iv PREFACE.

The execution of it has been attended with considerable
labour, from the difficulty of arranging the mass of mate-
rials I had collected, and from the necessity of entering
very carefully into a great deal of minute detail. Unfor-
tunately I have seldom been able to give an undivided
attention to the work for any considerable length of time.
Interruptions occasioned by professional duties, and by
preparing drawings for the plates, have prevented my
doing so j and I must plead this circumstance as an ex-
cuse for occasional defects of arrangement and style. I
can however safely affirm that no pains have been spared
to render the work substantially as accurate as possible, in
reference to those matters which constitute the peculiar
subject of it.

In forming such of my opinions as relate more exclu-
sively to glass painting, I have, in addition to a practical
knowledge of the art, — for which I am indebted to the
instruction of the late Mr. Miller, the distinguished glass
painter of his day, — derived much benefit from an ac-
quaintance with a few other leading glass painters, and
from the opportunities which I have had of watching the
progress of several applications of this art, conducted on
principles very opposite to each other; while in those
conclusions which rest on more extensive views of Art in
general, I have received the most valuable assistance from
my friend the Rev. George Hamilton.

PREFACE. , V

The present work is divided into two parts. In the
first I have attempted to lay down rules which may serve
to point out the leading distinctions of styles : the second
contains observations on the present state of the art, and
suggestions for its application to particular purposes, and
as to the best means for its advancement. In some of my
views I may seem too much inclined to innovation, but I
assure the reader that none of them have been hastily
adopted. It is an error to suppose that glass painting
cannot be properly exercised now, without a strict recur-
rence, in all respects, to the practice of the middle ages.
It is a distinct and complete branch of Art, which,, like
many other medieval inventions, is of universal applica-
bility, and susceptible of great improvement. Therefore
it seems improper to confine it to a mere system of servile
and spiritless imitation. In expressing my opinions on
this part of the subject, I have not ventured to do more
than throw out a few hints for the consideration of artists :
to give any precise directions on such a matter would be to
travel out of the province of an amateur, who, though at
liberty to criticise a work of art, has no right to assume the
authority of a teacher.

For this reason I have carefully abstained from laying
down any rules as to the composition and colouring of
glass paintings, the omission of which may perhaps by
some be considered to lessen the value of the work. With

PREFACE.

regard to colour, however, I may be permitted to remark,
that the same general principles apply to a glass painting
as to any other : and to express my conviction that there
is no foundation for the belief that anciently a symbolical
disposition of colours was observed in a scriptural glass
painting. The conclusion I have arrived at on this latter
point is confirmed by the opinion of M. Lasteyrie b.

It is proper that I should make some observations on
the plates which accompany this work. I had originally
intended, in addition to the other illustrations, to give
a general view of a window belonging to each style, and
had prepared drawings for that purpose : but I was in-
duced to abandon the project, from a conviction that the
usefulness of these plates would not be commensurate
with the increased cost of the work. The difficulty of
producing in a plate the effect of painted glass, has never
yet been overcome, even in engravings of large size, and as
it is enhanced by every reduction in the scale of the plate,
it became evident to me that my sole object in introducing
these general views would be frustrated. I have therefore
endeavoured to supply the deficiency, as well as I could, by
references to plates of entire windows in other works.
With the exception therefore of one general view of a
window, copied from a French work, and which being
represented in outline only, presented no difficulty of exe-

b Lasteyrie, « Histoire de la Peinture sur Verre, ' p. 70, note.

PREFACE. VII

cution, all the plates have been taken from detached por-
tions of glass paintings. They are all copied from genuine
examples, and are arranged in two classes ; the first con-
sists of designs on a reduced scale, some coloured, some
executed merely in outline; which form of themselves
a tolerably connected series of glass paintings from the
thirteenth to the seventeenth century. The second class
is composed of engravings of the full size of the original
examples : these range over as wide a period as the sub-
jects of the first class, and, like them, are executed some
in colours, some in outline only. By this means I hope to
familiarize the reader's eye with the handling, as well as
the general effect of ancient glass paintings. How far
I may have succeeded in this remains to be seen. I have,
however, taken care in every plate to notice those minute
features which are peculiar to glass paintings, as the
leads by which the work is held together, &c. ; so that
I trust the plates, if considered merely as diagrams, may
serve in some measure to explain the letter-press.

In conclusion, I must express my grateful thanks for the
assistance I have derived, in the progress of this work,
from the advice and suggestions of many of my friends.
My best acknowledgments are due to Richard Charles
Hussey, Esq., of Birmingham, for his liberal offer, made
through my friend W. Twopeny, Esq., of placing some valu-
able drawings of painted glass at my disposal, of which,

Vm PREFACE.

owing to the progress that had been made in the work, I
was not able to avail myself. Mr. Ward, the eminent glass
painter, must allow me to thank him sincerely for the
many valuable practical hints he has at various times com-
municated to me. I am forbidden to mention the name
of an intimate friend, to whom I feel under the deepest
obligations, for his kind aid not only in verifying dates
and correcting references, but in superintending the whole
construction of this work.

C. W.

October 8, 1846.

NOTE.

The terms "Painted glass," and " Stained glass," are commonly used
as if they were synonymous. I have however adopted the former, from
a belief that although not strictly correct, it is on the whole a more cor-
rect expression than the latter. For a glass painting may be entirely
formed of painted glass, — i.e., glass painted with an enamel colour, — but
it would be impossible to execute a glass painting merely by staining
the glass. Most glass paintings are formed by combining the two pro-
cesses of enamelling and staining.

I should perhaps state that this work treats only of that process of
glass painting which is perfected by the aid of fire. There is a mode of
ornamenting glass with colours mixed with copal, or other varnish.
But this is not glass painting in its true sense. A painting thus exe-
cuted will perish as soon as the varnish with which the colour is mixed
loses its tenacity, which is usually in the course of a few years. A real
glass painting, however, if properly executed, will endure as long as the
glass itself.

As some of my readers may not be aware of the sense in which the
term "white glass" is used in this work, I will add, that amongst glass
painters it technically signifies uncoloured glass, or glass to which no
colour has been intentionally applied in the manufacture of it

CONTENTS.

Tape

Introduction ... ...... 1

Notes to the Introduction . . . . . .13

CHAPTER I.

(Page 30.)

Introduction to the Styles.

Section I. — The Early English style . . . .31

1. Texture and colour of the glass . . • .43

2. Mode of execution . ■ - • • .45

3. Figures . . . • • • . 47

4. Foliage, &c. . . . • • .50

5. Borders . . • • • • .52

6. Patterns . . . • • • .53

7. Pictures . . • • • • .56

8. Canopies . • .... 58

9. Heraldry . 60

10. Mechanical construction . 'I'-
ll. Letters 62

Section II. — The Decorated style . . • . ib.

1. Texture and colour of the glass . . • .75

2. Mode of execution . . . • • .77

3. Figures 78

4. Foliage . ..... 82

5. Borders 86

6. Patterns 89

7. Pictures . . . • • • .92

8. Canopies . . . • • • .93

9. Tracery lights ...... .95

10. Heraldry 99

11. Letters . . • • • • .100

12. Mechanical construction . . • • .101

xii

Page

Section III. — The Perpendicular style .... 102

1. Texture and colour of the glass .... 120

2. Mode of execution . . . . . .124

3. Figures . . . . . . 127

4. Foliaged and other ornaments . . . . .131

5. Borders ........ 136

6. Patterns . . . . . .139

7. Pictures ....... 145

8. Canopies ........ 147

9. Tracery lights . . . . . . 156

10. Heraldry . .. . . . . .158

11. Letters . . . . . . . .161

12. Mechanical construction . . . . ib.

Section IV. — The Cinque Cento style .... 162

1. Texture and colour of the glass . . . .180

2. Mode of execution . .... 182

3. Figures . . . . . . . .183

4. Ornaments ....... 186

5. Borders . . . . . .187

6. Patterns . . . . . . .188

7. Pictures . . . . . - .189

8. Canopies . . . . . . .192

9. Tracery lights . . . . . . .195

10. Heraldry .... ... 196

11. Letters .... . . 197

12. Mechanical construction . . . .198

Section V. — The Intermediate style . . ib.

1. The texture and colour of the glass . . . .214

2. Mode of execution . . . . . .218

3. Figures . . . . . . .219

4. Ornaments ....... 220

5 and 6. Borders and patterns . . . . . ib.

7 and 8. Pictures and canopies ..... 222

9. Tracery lights .... ... 223

10. Heraldry ....... ib.

11. Letters ........ 224

12. Mechanical construction . . . . . ib.

CONTENTS.

♦

CONTENTS.

xiii

CHAPTER fit.

Page

Section I. — Employment of painted glass as a means of decoration 226

II. — On the true principles of glass painting . . 239

III. — On the selection of a style .... 268

APPENDIX (A).

Chapter I. — On the construction of a furnace for working glass . 311

II. — Of the annealing furnace .... 316

III. — Of the furnace for spreading; and the implements for

the work . . . . . ib.

IV. — Of the mixture of ashes and sand . . .317
V. — Of the working pots, and the mode of fusing [et de co-

quando] white glass . . . . .318

VI. — How tables of glass [vitreae tabula?] are made . . ib.

VII.— Of yellow glass . . . . . .320

VIII. — Of purple glass [de purpureo vitro] . . ib.

IX. — Of spreading out tables of glass . . . .321

X. — How glass vessels are made .... 322

XI. — Of bottles with long necks .... 323

XII. — Of the different colours of glass .... 324

XIII. — Of glass drinking bowls, which the Greeks decorate with

gold and silver . . . . . ib.

XIV. — The same by another method . . . 325
XV. — Of Greek glass, which ornaments Mosaic work . . 326

XVI. — Of earthen vessels painted with differently coloured glass ib.
XVII. — Of the making of windows .... 327

XVIII— Of dividing glass . . . . .328

XIX. — Of the colour with which glass is painted . . ib.

XX. — Of the three colours for the lights in glass [de coloribus

tribus ad lumina in vitro] .... 329
XXI. — Of the ornamenting of a picture in glass . . . 330

XXII. — Of the furnace in which glass is burnt . . . 331

XXIII. — How glass is burnt [coquatur] . . " . 332

XXIV. — Of the iron moulds . . . . .333
XXV. — Of casting the rods [de fundendis calamis] . . ib.

XXVI. — Of wooden moulds [de ligneo infusorio] . . 334

XXVII. — Of putting together and soldering windows . . 335

XIV

CONTENTS.

XXVIII. — Of placing gems on painted glass
XXIX. — Of simple windows [de simplicibus fenestris]
XXX. — How a broken glass vessel may be mended
XXXI.— Of rings

Appendix (B)
(C)
(D)
(E)

Index

Cuts in the Text
Addenda and Corrigenda

IV"
337
338
ib.
339

342
351
366
374
377
381
383

INTRODUCTION.

The principal object of this work is to investigate the
varieties of ancient glass painting, and to reduce them to a
few classes or styles, in the same manner as has been suc-
cessfully attempted with regard to Gothic architecture.

But, for the study of this subject, and indeed for the
proper understanding of the following essay, it is necessary
to have some acquaintance with the principles and practical
details of glass painting ; and with the species of evidence
by which alone the date of a glass painting can be ascer-
tained, and a place assigned to it in any particular style.
I think it desirable therefore, to lay before the reader,
who may not be already familiar with these subjects, some
information and remarks, which may serve as an introduc-
tion both to the practical and antiquarian knowledge of
the art.

It is unnecessary to enter into any lengthened disquisi-
tion concerning the antiquity of the manufacture of glass,
or of its employment, whether plain, coloured, or painted,
in windows. It is well ascertained that glass, both white
and coloured, opaque and transparent, was made by the
Egyptians upwards of three thousand years ago a : but until
the commencement of the Christian era, the material does
not appear to have been applied to any other purpose than

» Sir Gardiner Wilkinson describes dynasty, is from 1575 to 1269 B. C. Ib.,

the proficiency of the ancient Egyptians vol. i. p. 47. The Egyptians were ac-

in the art of making white and coloured quainted with the art of glass blowing

glass, at the period of the eighteenth dy- upwards of 3500 years ago. 77;., vol. iii.

nasty. "Manners and Customs of the p. 88, where a representation of workmen

ancient Egyptians." Lond., vol. iii. p. engaged in the process is given from one

99. The space of time he allots to this of the tombs.

INTRODUCTION.

the formation of various utensils and ornaments, — of
mosaic works, and the counterfeiting of precious stones.
A passage in Lactantius is commonly referred to as the
first undoubted mention of the use of glass in windows15.
Leo the Third is said to have adorned the windows of the
Lateran with coloured glass, — the earliest instance of the
kind that can be cited with confidence0 ; and it may be
inferred that the art of glass painting was known at least
as early as the tenth century, since the process is minutely
described in the second book of the " Diversarum Artium
Schedula" of Theophilus ; a work supposed to have been
written in that or the following century. A translation of
this part of the treatise is given in the Appendixd to the
present work. The information which it contains is most
interesting, and throws light on the execution of glass
paintings, not only during that particular age, but through-
out many subsequent centuries. In consequence, however,
of the changes which have since been introduced into the
practice of the art, it becomes necessary to describe it as it
exists at present.

The glass used in glass paintings is, in its original manu-
factured state, either ivhite, or coloured. The ingredients of
White glass6, of which silex and alkali are the most im-
portant, are incorporated by fusion in the melting-pot of
the glass-house, having been in general previously fritted ;
i. e. roasted with a strong fire, in order to facilitate their
union. When the vitrification in the melting-pot is com-
plete, the glass is formed into sheets f. These are after-
wards annealed, i. e. suffered to cool very gradually, a pro-

b " Verius et manifestius est, mentem c " Fenestras de apside ex vitro diver -
esse, quas per oculos ea, quae suntoppo- sis coloribus conclusit." Fleury, Hist,
sita, transpiciat, quasi per fenestram lu- Eccl., 12mo. vol. x. p. 158.
cente vitro aut speculari lapide obduc- d See post, Appendix A.
tam." De opif. Dei, c. 8. This work is e See note a at the end of this Intro-
supposed to have been written at the duction.

close of the third century, or the begin- ' See note b at the end of this Intro -

ning of the fourth. duction.

INTRODUCTION. o

cess which renders them less brittle; and they are then
ready for use.

Coloured glass is of two kinds : —

One kind is coloured throughout its entire substance15,
and is called pot-metal glass: the other is coloured only
on one side of the sheet, and is termed covered, or coated
glass; i. e. white glass covered with a coat of pot-metal
colour11.

Red, or ruby glass, is almost invariably coated glass1;
other kinds of coloured glass are generally pot-metal glass ;
but they are not unfrequently manufactured as coated glass.

Coloured glass is formed by adding a certain quantity
of colouring matter to the materials of white glass k, and
incorporating these ingredients by fusion in the melting-
pot of the glass-house. It is manufactured into sheets1
in the same way as white glass, and is of the same trans-
parency.

The Glass Painter possesses the power of colouring white
glass, and even of varying the tints of coloured glass, by
the use of stains, and enamel colours.

All shades of yellow, to a full orange red, may be im-
parted to white glass by staining itm : other colours are
produced by means of enamels.

A stain penetrates the glass to some little depth, and is
properly as transparent as white glass itself.

e See note c at the end of this Intro- k The compositions of various coloured

duction. glasses are described at large in From-

h See note d at the end of this Intro- berg's Handbuch der Glasmalerei. Qued-

duction. linburg and Leipzig, 1844 ; (a transla-

1 The reason to be assigned for the tion of which, by my friend Henry James
peculiar manufacture of Ruby glass is, Clarke, Esq., is printed in Weale's Quar-
that its colouring matter is so intense, terly Papers,) and in p. 268 of Dr. Lard-
that it would appear opaque, if formed ner's work, mentioned in note a at the
into a sheet by itself of the usual thick- end of this Introduction,
ness of an ordinary piece of glass. The 1 It is usually made into cylinders,
colouring matter therefore requires a which are opened out into sheets.
backing of white glass, to render the m See note e at the end of this Intro-
sheet thick and strong enough to resist duction.
the weather.

INTRODUCTION.

An enamel colour" only adheres to the surface of the
glass, without penetrating it, and is always more or less
opaque.

There are three distinct systems of glass painting, which
for convenience sake may be termed the Mosaic method;
the Enamel method; and the Mosaic enamel method.

Of these the most simple is the Mosaic method. Under
this system, glass paintings are composed of white glass, —
if they are meant to be white, or only coloured with yellow,
brown, and black, — or else they are composed of different
pieces of white and coloured glass, arranged like a mosaic,
in case they are intended to display a greater variety of
colours. The pieces of white glass are cut to correspond
with such parts of the design as are white, or white and
yellow; and the coloured pieces with those parts of the
design which are otherwise coloured.

The glass painter in the Mosaic style uses but two pig-
ments ; — a stain which produces a yellow tint, and a brown
enamel, called enamel brown. The main outlines of the
design are formed, when the painting is finished, by the
leads which surround and connect the various pieces of
glass together : and the subordinate outlines and all the
shadows, as well as all the brown and black parts0, are
executed by means of the enamel brown ; with which colour
alorie a work done according to the Mosaic system, can be
said to be painted. The yellow stain is merely used as a
colour.

It therefore appears, that under the Mosaic method each
colour of the design, except yellow, brown, and black, must
be represented by a separate piece of glass. A limited
number of colours may however be exhibited on the same
piece of glass, by the following processes. Part of a piece

n See note/ at the end of this Intro- » See note e at the end of this Intro-
duction, duction.

INTRODUCTION.

of blue glass may be changed to green, by means of the
yellow stain. The coloured surface of coated glass may be
destroyed by attrition, or the application of fluoric acid p ;
and the white glass beneath it exposed to view. This may
of course be wholly or in part stained yellow, like any other
white glass. Two shades of yellow may also be produced
on the same piece of glass, by staining some parts twice
over. But, unless he adopt one or other of the above-men-
tioned processes, the glass painter under the Mosaic system
cannot have more than one colour on the same piece of
glass. A variety of tint, or depth, may often be observed
in the same piece of coloured glass, arising from some ac-
cident in its manufacture*1. Of this a skilful glass painter
will always avail himself to correct as much as possible the
stiffness of colouring necessarily belonging to this system
of glass painting.

Under the Enamel method, which is the most difficult of
accomplishment, coloured glass is not used under any cir-
cumstances, the picture being painted on white glass, with
enamel colours and stains.

The Mosaic enamel method consists in a combination of the
two former processes ; white and coloured glass, as well as
every variety of enamel colour and stain, being employed in it.

The practical course of proceeding under each of these
three methods is nearly alike.

A cartoon of the design is made, upon which are also
marked the shapes and sizes of the various pieces of glass.
The glass is cut to these forms, and is afterwards painted,
and burnt, i. e. heated to redness in a furnace or kiln, which
fixes the enamel colours, and causes the stains to operate.
The number of burnings to which the glass is subjected

p This is the only acid known to from an inequality in the thickness of
rapidly corrode glass. the sheet in pot-metal glass, and of the

q This appearance generally arises colouring matter in coated glass.

INTRODUCTION.

varies according to circumstances. It is in general suffi-
cient to burn glass painted with only one enamel colour,
once or twice; the self-same operation sufficing also to
give effect to the stain, if any is used. Where several
enamel colours are employed, it is necessary to burn the
glass more frequently; each colour, in general, requiring
to be fixed by a separate burning.

It only then remains to lead the glass together, and to
put it up in its place1.

The Mosaic system of glass painting, as now practised,
may, I think, be considered a revival of the system which
prevailed throughout the middle ages, and until the middle
of the sixteenth century8. The glass employed during
this period is similar to the modern in its general character,
but materially differs from it both in texture and colour.
These differences are the more perceptible in proportion to
the antiquity of the glass. It seems to have been always
painted, burnt, and leaded together, nearly as at present*.

The Mosaic system of glass painting is admirably adapted
to the nature of the material. It is however unsuited for
mere picturesque effect, owing to the nature of its colour-
ing, which being produced by broad pieces of glass, whose
tints can scarcely be varied either in the lights or shadows,
(the latter being represented by means of the enamel brown,)
imparts to works executed in this style the flat and hard,
though brilliant character of an ancient oil painting \

The revival of art in the sixteenth century, and the ex-
traordinary efforts then achieved in oil painting, by which
the hard and dry illumination of the middle ages was trans-

r See note h at the end of this Intro-
duction.

s See note i at the end of this Intro-
duction.

* See note 7c at the end of this Intro-
duction.

u It was, I believe, the ancient prac-

tice in oil painting, to paint for instance
a red drapery, at first entirely red, and
afterwards to represent its folds, by re-
lieving the light parts with white paint,
and occasionally deepening the darkest
shadows with brown, or some other dark
colour.

INTRODUCTION.

formed into a beautiful picture, glowing with the varied
tints of nature, and expressing to the eye, by a nice grada-
tion of colouring, the relative position of near and distant
objects, seem to have excited the ambition of the glass
painters. Not content with carrying Mosaic glass paint-
ing to the highest pitch of perfection it has hitherto at-
tained, and with borrowing the excellent drawing and com-
position of the oil and fresco painters, they strove to render
their own art more completely an imitation of nature, and
to produce in a transparent material the atmospheric and
picturesque effects so successfully exhibited by the reflective
surfaces of oil and fresco paintings. The facility of apply-
ing colour to glass with the brush, at the pleasure of the
artist, afforded by the discovery of the various enamel
colours, about the middle of the sixteenth century x, soon
led to their extensive employment. It was not however
until the eighteenth century that they entirely superseded
the use of coloured glasses in large works y.

The introduction of enamels, though it certainly occa-
sioned a great extension of the scale of colour in glass paint-
ing, was not without its disadvantages. The paintings lost
in transparency what they gained in variety of tint ; and in
proportion as their picturesque qualities were increased by
the substitution of enamel colouring for coloured glass, their
depth of colour sensibly diminished.

* Did not experience teach us how
much we are indebted to chance for our
boasted discoveries, it would seem un-
accountable that the art of enamelling,
itself of such high antiquity, should have
been confined to opaque substances, until
tlie middle of the sixteenth century. An
interesting account of the process of ena-
melling earthenware is given in Theophi-
lius's treatise, book ii. chap. 16, [post
Appendix A.] It does not appear to
differ materially from the process now in
use. See Dr. Lardner's Porcelain and
Glass Manufacture, chap. 6.

The art of enamelling was practised by

the ancient Egyptians upwards of 2000
years before Theophilus wrote. See Sir
Gardiner Wilkinson's Manners and Cus-
toms of the ancient Egyptians.

y Pot-metal glass occurs in a drapery
in the glass painting at the end of the
library of Trinity College, Cambridge,
which was executed by Peckitt, from a
design of Cipriani, at the end of the last
century. But both the west window of
New College, Oxford, executed by Jer-
vais in 1800, after a design by Sir Joshua
Reynolds, and the windows of Arundel
Castle, are entirely coloured with enamels
and stains.

INTRODUCTION.

The practical application of enamel colours to glass, seems
always to have been conducted nearly as at present. Some
of the earlier examples of Enamel painting are, however,
superior in transparency to the modern. This is particu-
larly the case with Swiss glass paintings of the seventeenth,
and close of the sixteenth century; in which enamel colours
are constantly to be met with, firmly adhering to the glass
in lumps of one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness, and so
well fluxed in burning as to be nearly, if not quite, as
transparent as pot-metal glass. I am not aware that these
enamels have ever been successfully imitated, but modern
chemical discoveries have been of late productive of enamel
colours of very superior quality, both in tint and transpa-
rency, to those in general use during the last century, and
former part of the present.

Having given this brief outline of the process of glass
painting, I shall now proceed to offer some observations on
the means by which the age of particular specimens of the
art can best be ascertained. In few branches of antiquarian
research will a knowledge of minute details, and the con-
sideration of internal evidence, be found more important
than in this. It is seldom that the age of a glass painting
is determined by the direct testimony of a date affixed to
it, or of written documents; nor can a safe conclusion
always be drawn from the situation which it occupies. It
might at first be supposed that the glass would not be older
than the window in which it is found, especially when the
principal divisions of the picture or pattern coincide with
the apertures of the window ; but the inference from this
circumstance cannot be relied upon, since instances are
known in which windows have been constructed for the
reception of glass older than themselves. It is therefore
only from the internal evidence afforded by the work itself,
that the date of a glass painting can in general be ascer-

INTRODUCTION.

tained ; and this evidence is not, as in a Gothic building,
presented by a few prominent features, the contour of a
moulding for instance, or the form of a window, but by a
variety of minute particulars, no one of which is perhaps
adequate of itself to decide the question.

Some of these tests are peculiar to glass paintings, such
as those afforded by the nature and texture of the material,
its colour, and the mode of painting it. Some, again, it has
in common with other objects • such as the character of the
drawing, the form of the letters, the architectural details,
the costume of the figures, the heraldic decorations, &c.
All these features are not equally trustworthy; those de-
rived from the general practice of the day, as regards the
manufacture of the glass, and mode of painting it, are more
to be relied on than those afforded by the nature of the
particular subjects represented.

Each period of medieval glass painting has its distinctive
style of execution, but artists were at all times prone to
copy the designs of their predecessors. This may serve to
account for the occasional representation in a glass paint-
ing, of the armour, costume, and architectural features of a
period anterior to that of the work itself.

I shall now endeavour to shew more particularly the
value of certain tests of date.

Mere general arrangement affords scarcely any criterion
of date. The "medallion window1'" is perhaps confined to
the Early English period; and designs extending them-
selves into more than one lower light of a window, can
hardly be said to be earlier than the Decorated. But with
these exceptions, almost every late arrangement is to be
found more or less developed in the earlier styles.

The general appearance or effect of a glass painting is a

1 The meaning of the term "medallion window," is explained in the first section
of the next chapter.

INTRODUCTION.

feature deserving the utmost attention ; but taken alone, it
affords only a sure proof that the work belongs to some
general period, without conveying a more definite idea of
its date. The general effect of a glass painting depends
indeed almost entirely on the quality and texture of the
glass employed in it. Hence it varies according to the
progressive changes in the manufacture of that material.
These, as might be expected, were so slow and gradual as
to be hardly perceptible ; and glass, apparently of the same
quality, was therefore employed during long periods of
time. Owing to this circumstance, it becomes impossible
to pronounce with certainty whether, for instance, an early
glass painting, judging only from its general effect, is of
the Early English, or early part of the Decorated period ;
whether another is late Decorated, or early Perpendicular ;
or whether to a third should be assigned a less general
date than the space of time between the beginning of the
fifteenth century, and the end of the reign of Henry the
Sixth, &c.

The execution of a glass painting according to any par-
ticular mode, the first invention of which is capable of being
ascertained, raises a conclusive inference that the work can-
not be earlier than a certain time : but seldom affords any
other criterion of its date. So the representation in a
glass painting of different ornaments, costumes, armour,
and architectural details ; the symbols of the alliance of
families, or of individuals holding particular offices, serve in
like manner to limit the antiquity of the work; without,
however, at least in the generality of cases, setting any
precise bounds to its lateness. Thus for instance, the
existence of the yellow stain in a glass painting, is a proof
that it is not earlier than the fourteenth century. In like
manner, a glass painting which exhibits stippled shading*,

a This term is explained in note h at the end of this Introduction.

INTRODUCTION.

or ruby glass having some of its coloured surface purposely
abraded, may be pronounced not to be earlier than the
fifteenth. Again, the use of enamel colours marks a glass
painting as having been executed after the middle of the
sixteenth century, while the trifling circumstance that the
glass has been originally cut with a diamond, will denote
that another work is not^ earlier than the seventeenth
century. The representation in a glass painting of Deco-
rated windows with flowing tracery, is an evidence that the
picture was not painted until after the introduction of this
feature in architecture. And the appearance of a shield
bearing the private arms of a bishop impaled with those of
his see, will in general raise a presumption that the work
was executed diuring his prelacy.

The age of a glass painting is thus sometimes capable of
being reduced to limits sufficiently exact for practical pur-
poses, by the existence of a single feature, such as that
last mentioned, or even by the character of the letters used
in an inscription : but in general, its more precise date can
be established only by the evidence afforded by the con-
currence in it of a variety of different tests. It is indeed
always safer to rely on such evidence, when it can be ob-
tained, than to infer a date from a single insulated cir-
cumstance.

Of the value of the testimony afforded by a coincidence
of minute particulars, in establishing the probable date of
a glass painting, the following is an example.

It has before been noticed, that there is often no dis-
tinction between the general effect of an Early English,
and that of an early Decorated glass painting. Recourse
must therefore be had to the character of the ornament,
which will in general at once decide the question of style.
Supposing this to be in favour of the Decorated ; the next
point is, to what period of the style the painting belongs.

INTRODUCTION.

This may sometimes be determined by the nature of the
ornament itself ; but the colour and quality of the glass
will always conclusively shew that the specimen is early in
the Decorated style. Another instance may be added. It
is easy to distinguish a glass painting of the latter part of
the reign of Edw. IV. from the earlier examples of the
fifteenth century, by the yellow tint of the white glass;
although it may exhibit precisely the same design and
execution, and even the same costumes, as a glass painting
of the time of Henry VI. As however white glass of the
same colour continued in use until the end of the Cinque-
cento style, glass paintings not exhibiting any peculiarity of
costume which may mark them as being of the reign of
Edw. IV., must be referred to the period indicated by the
general character of their drawing and execution.

I have endeavoured in the course of the ensuing chapter
to facilitate enquiries into the date of glass paintings, and
the styles to which they belong, by commencing each
section with some general remarks on the effect of glass
paintings of a particular period, and by afterwards describ-
ing their details as minutely as I could, at the risk of being-
considered prolix and tedious. I should however warn the
reader against the supposition that it is possible to acquire
an accurate knowledge of a pictorial art, from mere de-
scription, or the slight aids derivable from plates in such
a work as the present. A book can do no more than direct
his attention to certain differences in glass paintings afford-
ing sure indications of style, and by a general explanation
of the process of painting upon glass, clear up some diffi-
culties which would otherwise beset the subject. He must
depend upon his own exertions for a critical knowledge of
the different styles of glass paintings, which can be acquired
only by minute, close, and repeated observation of existing
specimens, and a habit of making careful and detailed draw-

INTRODUCTION.

ings of them, whenever the opportunity presents itself. I
may add that a certain acquaintance with other branches
of antiquities, such as architecture, and painting in general,
heraldry, &c. will considerably facilitate his researches.

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.

(«) The manufacture of the different kinds of white glass, and the
nature of their ingredients, are minutely described in a small but clever
popular work, " A Treatise on the Origin, Progressive Improvement,
and Present State of the Manufacture of Porcelain and Glass." Lond.
1 832 : which forms part of Dr. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia.

Until the last few years, only the two sorts of white glass known by
the names of crown glass, and broad, or spread glass, which last is also
called common window glass, were employed in glass paintings. The
first kind was, until lately, clearer and more free from colour than the
last, which being coarser and cheaper, was more commonly used for
this purpose. The broad glass, however, never possessed any other
colour than that accidentally imparted to it by the impurity of its ma-
terials. Owing to continued improvements in its manufacture, broad
glass has gradually become almost, if not quite, as colourless as crown
glass ; a circumstance which renders it unfit for many glass paintings.
A new description of white glass, sometimes called cathedral glass, has
been in consequence manufactured of late, expressly for glass painters,
and has been extensively employed in lieu of broad glass. Flint glass,
into the composition of which lead enters, and which, from being highly
taxed, was formerly only used for decanters, drinking glasses, and other
uttensils, is beginning to be employed in painted windows. It is either
white or coloured.

(b) There are various modes of forming glass into sheets, but it is
only necessary for the purposes of this work to describe two of them.

One process, called flashing, consists in making the glass into circular
tables, or sheets. It is at present appropriated to crown glass.

The workman is provided with a long round iron tube or blow-pipe,
one end of which he dips into the melted metal in the pot, until he has
collected upon it a sufficient mass of glass. This he moulds into a
cylindrical form, by rolling it on a smooth plate of iron called a marver ;
and then applying his mouth to the other end of the tube, blows down
it into the soft mass of glass, which yields to his breath, and gradually
assumes a globular shape. When this has been sufficiently expanded

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.

by blowing, another workman capproaches with a solid round iron bar in
his hand, called a punt, having a small lump of melted glass at one end
of it. This on being applied to that side of the globe which is opposite
to the blow-pipe, and which has previously been somewhat flattened,
immediately adheres to it. The blow-pipe is now disengaged from
the glass, by wetting the part round it with water, and its removal
leaves a small circular hole in that part of the glass. The glass thus
attached to the punt, after having been sufficiently softened by heat, is
trundled round like a mop, " slowly at first, and then more and more
quickly, when the glass yields to the centrifugal impulse ; its diameter
becomes greater and greater, the hole just mentioned expands propor-
tionably ; and when in this continued progression the doubled portion
opposite the iron rod, and between the periphery of the glass and the
orifice, is diminished to an annulus or ring only a few inches wide ;
this in an unaccountable manner instantly flies completely open, and the
glass is converted into a plane disc of fifty to sixty inches diameter,
having an uniform thickness throughout the entire plate, with the ex-
ception of" its rim or selvage, and "the spot where it is attached to
the" punt, " and where there is a knot or lump which is called a butt's
eye,'' or centre. The punt is then detached from the bull's eye, and
the sheet of glass, after having been annealed in the annealing oven or
lear, is fit for use. This description will be rendered perfectly intel-
ligible by a reference to the plates in Dr. Lardner's work before men-
tioned, from which, see p. 184, the above extract is taken.

The other method consists in making glass into shades or cylinders, or
muffs, as they are sometimes called, which are afterwards opened and
flattened out into sheets.

This process differs but little from that of blowing plate glass, de-
scribed and illustrated by diagrams in Dr. Lardner's before-mentioned
work, p. 21 1 et seq.

A hollow globule of glass is formed as before mentioned, and brought
to the shape of a long bladder, by swinging the blow-pipe about. Its
end opposite to the blow-pipe is then perforated with a small circular
hole. The workman now seats himself in a chair, having two long
horizontal and parallel arms, on which he rolls the blow-pipe back-
wards and forwards with one hand, and with the other at the same
time gradually widens the hole, and fashions the glass with a pair
of shears until it assumes the form of a cylinder throughout its whole
length, except towards the end where it is connected with the blow-
pipe. A punt, having attached to its end a red-hot piece of glass, either
in the shape of a flat circular plate, rather wider than the mouth of the

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.

cylinder, or consisting of a straight piece crossing the end of the punt
like a T, is then applied to the already formed mouth of the cylinder,
and immediately adheres to it. The glass is then detached from the
blow-pipe, a rotary motion is given to it by trundling the punt up and
down the arms of the chair, and by a repetition of the process already
described the little hole left by the removal of the blow-pipe is enlarged
into a mouth, of the same diameter as the rest of the cylinder. The
cylinder is then disconnected from the glass at the end of the punt, and
after having had one side cut or slit up, is placed in the annealing oven,
with its cut side uppermost, and becoming softened by the heat, is
easily opened with an iron instrument, and spread out into a flat sheet.
Flint glass, both white and coloured, is usually thus formed into sheets.

(c) One kind of pot-metal glass indeed is called plated glass, and con-
sists of two sheets or thicknesses of pot-metal glass, of different colours,
closely united together. By this means a tint is produced differing from
that which would be obtained by the fusion of the two colours together
in the melting-pot of the glass-house. I have not thought it worth Avhile
to embarrass the text with this exception to the general rule, that pot-
metal glass is of the same colour throughout.

(d) Coated glass is formed by the workman first dipping his blow-pipe
into a pot containing white glass, and afterwards into a pot containing
coloured glass ; or vice versa. The glass when formed into a sheet is
thus coated with coloured glass only on one side. Sometimes the blow-
pipe is again dipped into the pot of white glass, in which case the colour
will be enclosed within two layers of white glass.

Coated glass is sometimes called flashed glass, but this term seems
rather to point to the mode in which it is manufactured into sheets. It is
now, I believe, more usually made into cylinders and opened out into sheets.

(e) The colour produced by a stain varies much according to the
texture of the glass, and the heat of the furnace : soft glass taking a
deeper stain than hard glass, and a high temperature greatly increasing
the colour. On this account, if the glass is unequally heated, it will
be stained of a deeper tint in some parts than in others. If exposed to
a too violent heat, the stain is apt to turn red, or to become opaque.
When overtired, it leaves a peculiar mark on the surface of the glass,
varying from yellow to a sort of blue. The composition of the yellow
stain is given, and its operation accounted for, in Fromberg's Handbuch
der Glasmalerei, part i. chap. 2 ; and in Dr. Lardner's Porcelain and
Glass Manufacture, p. 273, 298.

(f) An enamel colour is composed of some particular colouring matter
mixed with flux, i. e. soft glass which will melt at a lower temperature

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.

than the glass intended to be painted with the enamel. In proportion
as the glass cools after having been burnt in the kiln, the flux, which
has been melted by the process, hardens, and together with the colouring
matter it embraces, adheres closely to the glass.

The imperfect transparency of glass coloured with an enamel, no doubt
arises from the absence of such a complete fusion and liquefaction of the
flux in the glass painter's kiln, as is effected of the silex, in the manu-
facture of coloured glass, by the more intense and longer sustained
heat of the melting-pot of the glass-house.

The composition of various enamels is described in Fromberg's Hand-
buch der Glasmalerei; and in Dr. Lardner's work before mentioned,
chap. 14. See also a translation of a work by Dr. Gessert, " The Art
of Painting on Glass, or Glass Staining," in Weale's Quarterly Papers,
Part II.

The enamel brown is made either from iron or copper. Iron produces
a reddish brown pigment, copper a cold greenish black pigment.

(y) As the enamel brown is an opaque colour, any gradation of tint
from brown to absolute blackness may be produced with it, simply by
increasing the thickness of the coat of paint.

(h) The following is a brief description of the course now generally
pursued of painting glass, according to the Mosaic method.

If the work is intended to be executed merely in outline, without
any shading, the design is copied on the glass, by simply laying the
glass upon the drawing, and tracing with enamel brown upon the glass
the pattern seen through it. When a piece of coloured glass is so
dark as to obscure the pattern, a tracing of the latter is first made on a
piece of white glass, and placed behind the coloured, through which the
pattern is rendered distinctly visible by holding both pieces of glass to
the light. A similar method of transferring the design to the glass is
sometimes adopted, even when the painting is intended to be more
elaborate ; but the preferable way is, to draw the outlines of the car-
toon on the back of the pieces of glass with Indian ink, or other water
colours, leaving the front of the glass unincumbered for the free exercise
of the artist's pencil.

Recourse is then had to an easel, formed of large pieces of glass held
in a frame opposite to the light, The pieces of glass intended to be
painted, are attached, in their order, to the glass of the easel, sometimes
by means of wax, but more properly by little bits of paper pasted to their
edges, and to the glass of the easel.

If the painting is intended to be smear shaded, the artist, if the out-
lines have not been already drawn upon the glass with enamel brown,

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.

proceeds to put them in : using for this purpose the enamel brown
mixed to a proper consistency either with a combination of spirits of
turpentine, and fat turpentine, i. e. spirits of turpentine thickened by-
evaporation ; or with gum Senegal water, this gum possessing the pro-
perty of not blistering with heat. The next step is to execute the
shadows and diapers. The artist having mixed some enamel brown
as before mentioned, but of thinner consistency, smears it with a brush
over the parts intended to be in shadow, softening it off towards the
extremities of the shadows by gradually raising the brush from off
the glass as he passes it along. He thickens the coat of colour in the
deepest parts of the shadows ; and when this is not strong enough, he
applies a similar coating to the back of the glass, which must of
course be removed from the easel for this purpose. Shadows thus
formed always have a streaky, and uneven appearance, owing to the
unequal thickness of the coat of colour caused by the tracks left by the
brush in its course. It is impossible to produce deep shadows in this
way without at the same time rendering them opaque. In like manner
a coloured ground is smeared over so much of the glass as is intended
to be diapered, part of which, when dry, is scraped off with a pointed
stick or needle, so as to leave the diaper itself clear and transparent.

When the picture is intended to be stipple shaded, the artist either
puts in the outlines at first with enamel brown, or leaves them out until
the shading is finished. In either case he covers the whole of the glass
with a ground of enamel brown mixed with gum water, and dabbles or
stipples it all over, before it has time to dry, with a large soft long-haired
brush, held at right angles to the plane of the glass, so that the tips of
its hairs only are suffered to touch the glass. This process entirely
obliterates the smears left in the ground on its first application, and
renders it soft, and granulated in appearance. Stipple shadows, of
whatever depth, are always more transparent than smear shadows ; for
the colour is drawn up into little lumps by the action of the hairs of the
brush, leaving the interstices comparatively free from colour. When the
ground is dry, the artist scrapes it away from the lights of the picture,
and having previously moistened it with oil of spike lavender, deepens
the shadows, where necessary, by a fresh application of colour, mixed,
however, with turpentine, which he softens off as it dries, by dotting it
with a long-haired brush. He also sometimes heightens the shadows, by
laying a similar coat of colour on the back of the glass opposite to them.
Diaper patterns are executed exactly as before described, a stippled
ground having been laid all over the glass.

The stain, when used, is mixed with water, and floated on the back

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.

of the glass, usually to the thickness of a sixteenth of an inch, just be-
fore it is put into the kiln.

The furnace, or kiln, in which the glass is burnt, consists of an iron
box furnished with sliding shelves, and enclosed within an oven of brick-
work13. The shelves are covered with powdered whiting, upon which
the glass is laid flat, the painted side upwards, and the side to be stained
downwards. The fire is maintained on a grating below the box, which
is enveloped by the flame, the vent of the furnace being at the top of the
oven. When the glass has been sufficiently burnt, which is ascertained
by looking into the box, through a hole provided for that purpose in the
brickwork with which the mouth of the oven has been closed up pre-
viously to kindling the fire, the fire is raked off the grating, and every
aperture having been carefully stopped up, the glass is suffered to cool
gradually, and anneal itself. After the glass has been burnt, and taken
out of the kiln, it is necessary to wash or brush off the residuum of the
stain, and this having been removed, the glass underneath, if the fire has
been hot enough, will be found to be yellow.

The glazier finishes the process ; he leads the glass together, i. e. sur-
rounds each piece with a strip of lead, having a groove on each side to
hold the edge of the glass, according to the pattern marked on the
cartoon, joining the various pieces of lead with solder. The lead-work
is rendered less pervious to wind and moisture, and much stronger, by
being cemented, i. e. a kind of cement is rubbed in between the glass
and the lead, which fills up the interstices, and hardens by exposure to
the weather. Every glass painting of any magnitude, in order to avoid
breakage and unnecessary trouble in putting it up, is divided by the
glazier into convenient portions, each containing several square superfi-
cial feet of glass, called glazing panels. Each of these is surrounded with
a strong lead, and can be moved about by itself. The glazing panels
are set up in their order, and secured by being attached to the saddle
barsc of the window, i. e. to an iron framework let into the stone-work.

Under the Enamel system the glass is painted with enamels much in
the same way as canvass or paper is painted with oil or water-colour,
and they are applied to the glass in general as in an ordinary miniature
painting, by repeated hatchings with a small pencil. The colour which
requires the greatest heat is put on first, and burnt ; and that which
requires the least heat, last, so that each colour is fixed at a temperature

l> A representation of a glass painter's fourteenth century termed "sondlets,"

kiln is given in " L'Art de la peinture or " sondelets ;" and the upright iron

surverre, et de la vitrerie, par feu M. le bars which passed through them, "stand-

Vieil," plate ii. ards." Smith's Antiq. of Westminster,

c These were in the middle of the p. 196, et seq.

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.

not sufficiently high to disturb the flux, or alter the tint of any of its pre-
decessors. The glass, when burnt, is either leaded together, or secured
with putty in a metallic framework moulded to the forms of the panes.

In the Mosaic enamel system, coloured glass is often shaded and
diapered with an enamel colour of the same tint as itself. The colour
is sometimes floated on with water, but more commonly applied with a
pencil, as under the former method. The pointed stick or needle is
often used to scrape the colour off" the glass, wherever an intense light is
required.

{%) The merit of admiring ancient painted glass, and first bringing it
into favourable notice, belongs to Horace Walpole ; but. the actual re-
vival of the ancient system of glass painting was accomplished princi-
pally by two distinguished glass painters, — the late Mr. Miller, and
Mr. Willement. The latter was the first to observe in his works, the
differences of style.

(k) The following particulars relate to the ancient method of making
and painting glass : —

White glass, according to the Treatise of Theophilus, chap. iv. [see
the translation, post Appendix A.] was composed of wood ashes and
sand, mixed together in certain proportions, and fritted, previously to
being placed in the melting-pot. Many kinds of coloured glass are
mentioned in that Treatise, chap, xii., as being made from the coloured
glass found in the antique mosaic works and ancient vessels. Theo-
philus calls the little lumps of blue glass used in the mosaics, sap-
phiresd, and particularly says that they were fused with white glass, in
order to make blue glass for windows. This, I think, sufficiently ex-
plains Abbot Suger's statement, that sapphires were used in the painted
glass at St. Denys.

The supply of colouring materials from the above source must soon
have been exhausted. Eracliuse gives various receipts for colouring
glass with different metallic substances. Lead is mentioned in the title
of one of the lost chapters of Theophilus, and in chapter xxxi., which de-
scribes the making of glass rings ; and also by Eraclius, as an ingredient
of glass, which, as it would seem, however, was not used for windows, but
for the manufacture of utensils. This glass would therefore answer to flint
glass, the softness and strong refractive power of which, arising from
tlhe presence of lead in its composition, (see Dr. Lardner's Treatise,
p. 161,) have, for a long time past, caused it to be appropriated to the
formation of decanters, and other glass wares. Drinking glasses, &c.
made of flint glass, like the modern, may be found as early as the reign
d See note to Appendix A. e Vide note to Appendix A.

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.

of Charles I. They are more brilliant in appearance, but are much
thicker, heavier, and more brittle, than the old Venetian glasses, which
are light as feathers, and composed of a tough horn-like material.

Flint glass, as stated in a former note, has only lately been used for
window glass.

It appears from the Treatise of Theophilus, chapters vi. and ix., post
Appendix A, that both white and coloured glass were formed into cylin-
ders, which were opened and flattened out into sheets, nearly as at pre-
sent : the introduction of the punt, in addition to the blow-pipe, being
the chief improvement upon the ancient system. The process of an-
nealing the sheets is identical with that now in use.

That the art of flashing glass was known at least as early as the begin-
ning of the fifteenth century, is proved by the representations in the
pictures of J ohn Van Eyck and others, of round glass, each pane of
which is a miniature sheet of flashed glass, as is more fully described in
the course of my remarks on the Perpendicular style. I myself have
seen in a glass painting at Mells church, Somersetshire, of the latter
half of the fifteenth century, two bull's eyes, in pieces of white glass, each
as large as the bull's eye of a modern sheet of crown glass ; and I have
often noticed in Early English and Decorated glass, strice, or waves, of
segmental shape, which I am strongly inclined to think were formed by
flashing the glass.

All ancient window glass was originally clear and transparent. It
perhaps was not, at least until the sixteenth century, so perfectly trans-
parent as modern glass, being, in general, less homogeneous than it,
owing to the imperfect state of the manufacture formerly ; but it was,
when new, sufficiently clear to admit of distant objects being easily seen
through it. The film, which usually subdues the brilliancy of old glass,
and imparts to it a fine harmonious tone, is but the effect of the surface
of the glass having become decomposed by the action of the weather,
or of extraneous substances, such as lichens, or the rust from the saddle
bars, &c. adhering to it. Decomposition takes place in glass in different
ways and degrees, according to its texture, the manner in which it is
painted, and its position. The glass on the south side of a building is
always more corroded than that on the north side ; the glass which con-
tains the least portion of alkaline matter seems most effectually to resist
the action of the atmosphere ; and the painting upon it or even the
staining, sometimes preserves it from injury, sometimes hastens its decay.
In some cases the corrosion on the back of the glass is confined to those
parts which are opposite to the shadows and painted outlines, or at
least is most active in these parts ; in other cases, especially in Early

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.

English and early Decorated examples, the original thickness of the glass
is preserved only in those parts which are opposite the painted outlines,
the course of which may therefore be traced on the back of the sheet by
corresponding lines a little raised above the general surface.

Some glass is perforated to some little depth with small round holes ;
other glass has its whole surface eaten away : all old glass is more or
less covered with a slight film on both sides, but upon breaking it, the
interior of the sheet is always found to be clear and transparent, the
obscurity being confined to its surface.

The white glass varied much in tint, even in early times, being some-
times nearly colourless, sometimes so blue or green as to seem as if it
had been purposely tinted. I am persuaded, however, that its colour
was accidental, and arose merely from the impurity of its elements.

The use of manganese, to correct the yellowness of white glass, does
not appear to be earlier than the reign of Elizabeth. Its presence is
easily detected, especially in Venetian and French glass, by the inky
purple tint it imparts to the material. The earliest white glass, as well
as coloured glass, often has a slaty texture, i. e. is apt to chip off in
layers like slate. This property may arise from an imperfect amalgama-
tion of the glass, already on the blow-pipe, with that taken up upon it
by a subsequent dipping into the melting-pot, in order to increase the
mass at the end of the rod previously to blowing it. The white glass
of the seventeenth century resembles modern broad glass.

Coloured glass, previously to the middle of the fifteenth century, is in
general richer, and less crude than modern coloured glass. This is
(supposing that we employ the same materials that the ancients did)
probably owing to our improvements in chemistry, by which the modern
colouring matter is more completely purified from extraneous substances
than the ancientf.

Of all coloured glasses, the ruby varies most in appearance, according
to its date. The streakiness of the colour of ruby glass, prior to the
beginning of the fifteenth century, has occasioned M. le Vieil and
others to conjecture that it was applied like an enamel colour, with a
brush, and burnt in afterwards. The better opinion, however, is, that
the ancient ruby was made in the same way as modern ruby. I have
carefully examined a great many specimens of all dates, from about the
middle of the twelfth century, and have invariably found the glass to be

1 It has been conjectured, that the their own preparation of the pigment,

fine blue colour in old porcelain owes its were unable to expel from the cobalt

peculiar depth and richness to the pre- ore. See Lardner's " Porcelain and

sence of arsenic, which the Chinese, in Glass Manufacture," p. 114.

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.

coloured only on one side of the sheet. M. le Vieil, however, mentions
his having met with early specimens coloured throughout the sheet,
and Dr. Gessert thinks that the invention of coating ruby glass took
place in the fourteenth century, and adds that Schmithals, a profound
and trustworthy investigator of ancient coloured glasses, found all those
of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries coloured throughout the whole
mass. The probability is, that the coated method of making ruby was
an improvement on its original manufacture as an ordinary pot-metal.
The chapter of Theophilus, which, judging from its title, treated of
ruby glass, and would most likely have set the question at rest, is
unfortunately lost.

Although doubts may still exist as to the precise mode of manufactur-
ing ancient ruby, there can be none as to the great thickness of its
colouring matter in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries,
during which period it most plainly exhibited the streaky appearance
before alluded to.

The accompanying diagram re- Cdt l"

presents full-sized sections of pieces
of ancient ruby, selected quite at
random, and arranged in centuries,
but not according to their order of
time in each century. The dark
lines at the upper part of each sheet
are intended to shew the depth of
its colouring matter. The various
sheets will be found to agree in
thickness with the ordinary white
and coloured glass of the corre-
sponding periods.

The colouring matter of ruby
glass, until the beginning of the
fifteenth century, when seen in sec-
tion with the naked eye, seems to
be collected into several thin strata,
parallel to the surface of the sheet,
of unequal thickness, and imbedded
in white glass, usually of a more yel-
low hue than that of which the rest
of the sheet is composed. When
examined, however, with a powerful
microscope, the portion of white

COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE THICK-
NESS OF COLOUR ON RUBY GLASS.

Twelfth and
thirteenth
centuries.

Fourteenth
century .

Fifteenth and
sixteenth
centuries.

1 17

r- is

' — '9

Nineteenth
century.

1 l-/o
I i/i

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.

glass appears to be almost filled with an infinite number of the thinnest
possible parallel laminse of colour, closer together in some places than
in others, which produces the stratified appearance before mentioned.
The multitude of these laminse is so great as, I should say, to preclude
the possibility of their having been occasioned by successive dippings
of the blow-pipe alternately into white and coloured glass. Indeed the
occasional liability of the colouring matter to be chipped off like slate
in layers, not corresponding to the principal laminse of colour, would
tend to shew that the blow-pipe was repeatedly dipped into coloured
glass ; while, in other specimens, the perfect coherence of the mass of
colouring matter, coupled with its imperfect adhesion to the white glass
forming the rest of the sheet, would seem to prove that the colouring
matter was, by one act of the workman, conglomerated about the mass
of white glass, at the end of the rod, previously to blowing it.

After the beginning of the fifteenth century, the ruby colour appears
like a thin dense stratum on one side of the sheet, not thicker than a
sheet of writing paper, which is sometimes, as in No. 8 in the diagram,
covered with a thin layer of white glass. This stratum, however, when
highly magnified, presents the same appearance as the entire mass of
colouring matter in the earlier specimens, being composed of a vast
number of minute laminse of colour. The colour on modern ruby is
equally thin, and bears similar marks of construction. It is also some-
times covered with a thin coat of white glass, by the workman dipping
the blow-pipe again into white glass, after he has sufficiently coated
with coloured glass the lump of white glass at the end of the instru-
ment. For these and other reasons I consider the modern ruby, and
that of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, to be identical.

The thinness of the coat of colouring matter on the later specimens
of ruby is owing to its greater power ; for the ancient ruby, notwith-
standing the greater thickness of its coat, is not deeper in tint than the
modern, although its appearance is more varied and richer.

I must not leave this part of the subject without some mention of a
peculiar kind of glass, which seems to have been invented in the early
part of the sixteenth century, and which, for convenience sake, may be
called sprinkled ruby, i. e. white glass sprinkled with red spots. The
accompanying cut is intended to represent a piece of this glass ; the
form of the red spots being shewn by the light lines in the engraving.
See woodcut on the top of the next page.

It appears to me that the spots were put on in manufacturing the
glass, probably by sprinkling a piece of white glass, whilst on the blow-
pipe, with melted ruby glass. The spots certainly bear the mark of

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.

Cut 2.

SPRINKLED RUBY.

intense heat ; they are as transparent as ordinary ruby, and like it, form
a thin coating on the surface of the glass. Those on the same piece of
glass are always in the same direction. The spots are generally of a
bright scarlet tint ; sometimes they are more of a blood colour. The
colour is always deeper in the middle than at the edges of the spot.
Glass of this kind was extensively used by artists, especially of the
Flemish school, until the middle of the sixteenth century, in represent-
ing pieces of marble in architectural subjects, and for other purposes.
The subject of the annexed cut formed part of the arm and wrist of our
Saviour on the cross ; the ruby spots representing the blood stains pro-
ceeding from the palm of the hand.

I myself have not met with white glass coated with any other
colour than ruby earlier than the end of the fifteenth century, or the
beginning of the sixteenths, about which time coated blue glass ap-
pears to have been introduced. Coated pink, and coated green glass,
seem to be of still later invention.

Some kinds of ancient purple glass closely resemble what is now

5 Assertions to the contrary are how- enamel." There seems to be very little

ever made: for instance, Langlois, "Es- doubt that the famous Portland vase is

sai sur la peinture sur verre," p. 142, made of blue glass coated with white

affirms that Suger's toe glass at St.Denys glass. The art of coating glass may

is coated glass, or, as he describes it, therefore be considered of high anti-

" white glass covered with a layer of quity.

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.

termed plated glass, but exhibit nearly the same peculiarities in texture,
as the ancient ruby. I allude to those tints of purple which are pro-
duced by distinct layers, or strata, of light red glass, and light blue glass,
in the same sheet. I possess, through the kindness of Mr. Ward, the
eminent glass painter, a few small fragments of glass of this description.
Two of them are French glass of the early part of the thirteenth century,
and correspond in thickness with the sheets of ruby numbered 3 and 4
in the above-mentioned diagram. They are each composed of two strata,
one of light blue glass, equal to about one third of the entire thick-
ness of the sheet; the other of a mass of white glass, full of thin
horizontal laminse of light red glass, exactly resembling in form the
coloured lamina? which occur in a piece of ruby of the thirteenth cen-
tury. Two other fragments are, one of English, the other of French
glass, of the middle of the fifteenth century, and correspond in thickness
with the sheets of ruby numbered 8 and 9 in the diagram. Each of these
fragments is composed of three strata, two of blue glass, each equal to
about one fourth of the entire thickness of the sheet, and which enclose
between them a stratum, which in the thinnest sheet appears to be an
uniform layer of light red glass, but in the thickest sheet is a layer of
white glass, filled with a quantity of horizontal laminse of light red glass,
like those in the earliest specimens, but more numerous, thinner in sub-
stance, and closer together.

It would seem from existing documents, that in the infancy of glass
painting, the glass was made by the same persons who painted it. It is
evident, however, that the two processes were considered distinct as
early at least as the middle of the fourteenth century, and that the glass
painters purchased the glass they painted.

Theophilus describes the composition of the brown enamel used for
outlines and shading. [See post Appendix A, chap, xix.] The mention
of " arnement," i. e. black, for the painting of the glass, is made in the
account rolls of the expenses of St. Stephen's chapel in the 25th and
26th Ed. III. [see Smith's Antiq. of Westminster, 4to. Lond. 1807,
p. 198.] it was probably used for the same purpose. The enamel
brown formerly used, fluxed better than the modern. It is usually of a
cool grey purple tint ; the modern enamel brown is too apt to have a
reddish foxy hue.

The yellow stain does not appear to have been known before the
beginning of the fourteenth century. The earliest example that I have
met with is certainly not earlier than the close of Edw. I.'s reign, or the
beginning of Edw. II.'s. Large quantities of silver filings are mentioned
as having been purchased for the painting of the glass at various times,

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.

in the above-mentioned account rolls. The employment of the yellow
stain, to change blue glass to green, &c, is as early as the middle of the
fourteenth century. The practice of double staining glass does not seem
to have arisen before the sixteenth century.

The whole process of constructing a painted window is minutely de-
scribed in the treatise of Theophilus. [See Appendix A.]

The glass was then painted nearly as at present, supposing the Mosaic
method to be adopted, as well as the use of smear shadows. Stippled
shading was not introduced until towards the end of the fourteenth cen-
tury, or the beginning of the fifteenth.

It appears from the before-mentioned account rolls, that in the
middle of the fourteenth century, the designs for the windows were made
in general by the master glaziers, who, judging from the wages they
received, were deemed equal in skill to the chief practitioners in other
branches of art ; and that the glass was painted, and leaded together by
inferior workmen. It is owing perhaps to this circumstance that ancient
glass paintings are almost always better designed than executed. [For
further particulars relating to the wages paid to glass painters, see Ap-
pendix B.] The principle of employing artists of the highest celebrity
to make designs for painted windows was adhered to during the middle
ages, and does not seem to have been utterly abandoned until the pre-
sent century. Holbein is said to have furnished the cartoons for the
windows of King's chapel, Cambridge, and the names of several other
distinguished artists are preserved, as the designers of many coeval,
and later works on the continent11. It is reasonable to suppose, that
many works of inferior, or of mere ornamental character, were formerly
executed in the first instance upon the glass, without any previous de-
lineation on a cartoon. Indeed inscriptions, heraldic bearings, scroll-
works, &c, &c, often appear, on minute examination, to have been
sketched upon the glass, with a faint line of enamel brown, prepara-
tory to being carefully painted with strong colour in the usual manner.

The power of the diamond to scratch glass, must have been known at
a comparatively early date, if credit is to be given to the stories of
Francis I. and Queen Elizabeth writing on glass with a diamond set in
a ring. It does not, however, seem to have been employed to cut glass
before the beginning of the seventeenth century, previously to which

h lam not aware that the famous Van a glass painting. It bears the following

Dyck, though the son of a glass painter, inscription.

(see Le Vieil, Hist, de la Peinture sur " Anton. Van Dyck invenit. Erasmus

verre, &c. p. 54,) ever painted glass. The Quellinus delineavit. Matheus Borrckens

Rev. H. H. Norris, of Hackney, however, sculpsit, et excudit. Antwerpiae cum pri-

possesses a large engraving of the Cruci- vilegio."
fixion, which appears well adapted for

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.

time the practice of cutting glass described by Theophilus seems to have
prevailed with little variation.

The pieces of glass were first roughly wrought out by means of a hot
iron held to the glass, which caused it to crack, and were then reduced
to the exact shape required, by chipping away their edges with an iron
hook, called in Theophilus " grosairum ferrum," and at the present day
a grazing iron. The term " groisour" or " croisour," which occurs in
the before-mentioned account rolls, means the same thing. It is easy to
ascertain whether glass has been cut with a diamond, or wrought into
shape with the grozing iron, by the smoothness of its edges in the one
case, and their roughness and irregularity in the other. This circum-
stance will, until the forgers of glass paintings become aware of it, con-
tinue to be an useful test of the genuineness of a glass painting, and
serve to determine whether it indeed be an original work, or only a com-
pilation of fragments of the same date. The use of the diamond must
have effected a considerable saving of the glazier's time ; but as extra-
ordinary specimens of skilful glass cutting may be observed in mediseval
as in modern works.

It appears that the glass was formerly arranged in the kiln several
layers deep, with only ashes or lime between them, instead of, as now,
being placed in single layers on iron plates covered with whiting. This
circumstance will serve to account both for the crooked and undulating
surface of many pieces of old glass, which may be presumed not to have
been laid perfectly flat in the kiln, and also for the frequent appearance
of a faint yellow stain on old white glass, in places where its presence
can only be accounted for by an accident. The stain having the pro-
perty of penetrating through a thin stratum of lime or whiting, and
slightly tinging the glass immediately beneath. CuT 3-

The leads used until the middle of the
seventeenth century, are nearly of one uni-
form width, and are much narrower in the
leaf than the common modern leads. That
this was the case, can be proved not only
by the existence of the original leads them-
selves, but more satisfactorily perhaps by ^
the black lines drawn upon the glass, with ^re- ~~~T 2
which the glass painters were accustomed *T
sometimes to produce the effect of leads, j
without unnecessarily cutting the glass. ^
Many instances of this practice may be

Diagram . shewing the width and pro-
, . i file oi ancient and modern leads

seen in plate Is*.

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.

Fig. 1. in the annexed cut represents an anoient lead of the usual
width ; fig. 2. its profile ; fig. 3. the profile of a German lead of the
early part of the fourteenth century ; fig. 4. a piece of modern fret lead
of the ordinary width, and which is now considered as being very
narrow; and figure 5. its profile. It appears, on comparing the sec-
tions of these leads, that the ancient lead (No. 1.) contains as much
material as the modern lead, and is therefore not weaker than it;
though it presents a narrower surface to the eye. The German lead is
considerably stronger than the modern. Theophiius [Post Appendix A,
chap. 25.] describes the making of the leads, which were then simply
cast in a mould. Some leads of the fifteenth century, Avhich I have
examined, appear as if they had been first cast, and afterwards planed
or cut to shape. The modern leads are cast roughly, and compressed
between two rollers, to the proper dimension. This process makes them
more rigid than the old leads. It is the practice of modern glaziers to
surround each glazing panel with a " broad lead," — i. e. a lead three-
quarters of an inch, or an inch, broad in the leaf, — to strengthen the
work.

The German glass from which fig. 3. was taken, and which is now in
the west window of St. Giles's church, Camberwell, had each of its glazing
panels surrounded by two leads of the same dimensions as the above
specimen, soldered together at intervals, the little pipe formed by their
grooves being filled with a small twig with the bark on. This lead-
work was remarkably substantial, and as perfect as if it had only just
been executed. I never met with any old English glazing panels
which were either thus defended with a double lead, or with a lead
of greater substance than that commonly employed to hold the glass
together.

The difficulty of introducing colour into glass paintings, without the
use of lead-work, seems to have been always considered as a disadvan-
tage, and no doubt sensibly affected the designs of the middle ages.

Theophiius mentions a mode of introducing different colours into a
picture without leads, by laying small pieces of coloured glass upon a
larger piece, and causing them to adhere to it in the firing, [see post
Appendix A, chap. 28,] but this seems to have been confined to repre-
sentations of jewellery, &c. I have met with an instance of this prac-
tice, as late as the beginning of the fifteenth century, in a fragment of a
small mitre, the jewelled bands of which had been originally adorned with
bits of coloured glass, in imitation of precious stones. One coloured
piece only adhered to the white glass, the others had all dropped off,
leaving corresponding rough spots on the glass. Rough spots found in

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.

similar situations may often serve to indicate this practice in other
examples where no pieces of coloured glass remain.

The inconvenience of being obliged to lead in coloured glass, was
most sensibly felt in the execution of coats of arms. It was to a con-
siderable extent obviated by the method, introduced towards the end of
the fifteenth century, of abrading or grinding away the coloured surface
of ruby glass, so as to leave at pleasure metal charges on coloured fields,
or coloured charges on metal fields ; and by the discovery of other kinds
of coated glass, which were used in a similar manner. The abrasion
of the coloured surface of coated glass, must necessarily have been a
tedious and expensive process, not to be resorted to except in cases of
absolute necessity, and of additional remuneration. Hence misrepre-
sentations of heraldry occur nearly as frequently in late as in early
works; the complexity of the bearings in late shields counterbalanc-
ing the facilities of execution afforded by the then recent discoveries.
I subjoin, by way of illustration, a few instances of false heraldry in glass
paintings out of a vast multitude which I have noticed. It will be ob-
served that in every case the seeming mistake may be readily accounted
for on glass painting principles.

In the east window of Fawkham church, Kent, the Royal arms of Eng-
land, temp. Edw. II., consists simply of a piece of pot-metal yellow glass
in the form of a heater shield, on which the three lions are painted in
outline. In Lullingstone church, Kent, the arms of Brockhull — Gules, a
cross argent, between twelve cross croslets fitchees or — are represented
on a heater shield of a single piece of white glass, temp. Edw. III.,
the field being white, and the cross croslets stained yellow. In North
Cray church, Kent, the bearing of the Bowes family — Argent, three
bows in pale gules — is represented on a piece of white glass, of the
sixteenth century, the bows being stained yellow. And at Wilton
House, Wilts, the whole of the arms of Philip of Spain, the husband of
Queen Mary, is, with the exception of the bearing of Austria, exe-
cuted in white, yellow, and black. This last example is the more
striking on account of the care which has been taken to represent a
cotemporary coat of the Herberts — hardly less complicated than that
of King Philip — in its proper colours, by means of coated glass etched
out in the usual manner.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION TO THE STYLES.

It has already been stated, that a principal object of the
present work is to attempt a classification of the different
styles of glass painting, which have successively prevailed
in this country. Such a classification must necessarily be
in some measure arbitrary, as well in the number of styles
under which the varieties are arranged, as in the limits
which are assigned to each. With regard to these points
I have endeavoured to consult simplicity and convenience,
by avoiding too numerous divisions, and by adopting for
the earlier periods an arrangement corresponding, as nearly
as possible, with the generally received classification of
English Gothic Architecture. To the styles prevalent in
these periods it has seemed most convenient to apply the
same terms as are commonly used to designate the contem-
porary styles of architecture, viz. the Early English, the
Decorated, and the Perpendicular, as these terms, from
the currency which they have acquired, will at once suggest
well-defined periods of time. The style which succeeds
them has a very marked character, and may with great
propriety be termed the Cinque Cento. To the remaining
division of the subject it is, from the want of a peculiar
feature of universal occurrence, difficult to apply an ap-
propriate term ; but, in the hope that this style will here-
after be regarded merely as a link between the ancient
styles and an improved modern one, I have termed it the
Intermediate.

Thus then the varieties of glass painting have been
arranged under five styles, or classes j viz.

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

The Early English, which extends from the date of the
earliest specimens extant, to the year 1280.

The Decorated, which prevailed from 1280 to 1380.

The Perpendicular, from 1380 to 1530.

The Cinque Cento, from 1500 to 1550.

And the Intermediate, comprehending the period which
has elapsed from the end of the Cinque Cento style down
to the present day.

These styles are treated of with much minuteness, and
according to a uniform method. The leading characteristics
of the style are first described in general terms, and they
are afterwards examined in detail, under separate heads.
This mode of treating the subject may have led to occa-
sional repetitions, and may appear tedious to some readers,
but it is hoped that the examination of details, besides
being necessary to a full understanding of the subject, will
prove serviceable to the student who is not content with
a simple perusal of the work, but may find occasion to
consult it from time to time, for information on particular
points.

SECTION 1.

THE EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

Under this head I propose to class the glass paintings
prior to the year 1280. The present style will therefore
embrace some glass paintings coeval with the later speci-
mens of Norman architecture. But on account of the
paucity of these venerable relics, the small portion of time
over which they extend, and the general resemblance they
bear to other glass paintings, clearly within the Early Eng-
lish architectural period, it appears more convenient thus to
classify them, than to attempt to form them by themselves
into a separate and distinct style.

The oldest examples to which a date seems capable of

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

being assigned with any degree of certainty, appear to be
those remains in the abbey church of St. Denys in France,
which are supposed, on good grounds, to have been the
work of Abbot Suger, in the middle of the twelfth century.
I very much doubt whether any English glass paintings
exist of an earlier date than this. The earliest that I have
hitherto met with are, I believe, of a somewhat subsequent
period.

Early English painted windows are in general almost
entirely composed either of coloured glass, or of white
glass. The coloured windows are nearly exclusively appro-
priated to pictures, and the white ones to patterns. Both
are usually surrounded with a wide coloured border, return-
ing along the bottom of the window.

The coloured windows are perfect mosaics, of the most
vivid, intense, and gem-like tints. Their tone of colouring
is deep, harmonious, and rich, but not gay : they exclude
more light than perhaps any other painted windows, and
their general effect is extremely solemn and impressive.
Some windows of this description, from the smallness and
number of the pieces of glass they contain, present at a
distance only a rich and confused assemblage of various
colours ; their design being as little defined as that of a
Turkey carpet, to which they have often been likened.

The white windows have a remarkably brilliant and sil-
very, though cold appearance, owing to the greenish blue
tint of the glass. Their effect is grand and imposing,
especially when the window is of considerable magnitude.

There are three principal classes of coloured windows in
this style, which for the sake of convenient reference may
be termed, Medallion vjindows, Figure and canopy windows,
and Jesse windows.

The first named class of these windows is undoubtedly
the most interesting. They are principally filled with

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

medallions, or panels, containing coloured pictures, arranged
in a symmetrical manner, and embedded in a mosaic orna-
mental ground formed of rich colours a. The pictures are
usually related to each other, and represent successive in-
cidents in a history, or legend, depicted in the windows :
sometimes they are so selected that the result of them,
when taken in connexion with each other, is to express, at
least symbolically, some theological proposition or doctrine5.
In the lowest panels are sometimes represented the donors
of the window individually, or members of the guilds or fra-
ternities to which they belonged, engaged in their respective
trades0. The pictures are necessarily of small size ; and a
great many of them often enter into the composition of a
single window. In the best examples, attempts were made
to obviate, as far as possible, the confusion arising from a
multitude of small parts, and to produce distinctness, by
judiciously employing the darker colours principally in the

* Coloured representations of French
medallion windows, of the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, are given in the
elaborate work of M. Lasteyrie, " His-
toire de la Peinture sur verre," plates I,
III, V, XXIV, XXXIII; and of similar
windows of the thirteenth century, (see
Lasteyrie, " Hist, de la Peinture sur
verre," p. 92, et seq.,) in the magnifi-
cent work on Bourges cathedral, by Peres
Martin and Cahier, entitled, " Mono-
graphic de la Cathedrale de Bourges,"
plates I. to XVI. inclusive. There is also
an engraving in outline of a medallion
window at Rouen cathedral, of the thir-
teenth century, in the " Essai Historique
et descriptif sur la Peinture sur verre,
par E. H. Langlois, Rouen, 1832;"
likewise of a similar window of the thir-
teenth century, entitled " Vitrail de la
Passion," in the church of St. Germain,
Auxerrois, in the " Annales Archeologi-
ques," by M. Didron, vol. i. p. 16, and of
another of the same date and character,
in the church of Notre Dame de la Cou-
ture, at Mans, in vol.iii. liv. 4. of the last-
mentioned publication.

This mode of arranging subjects in

panels was not confined to glass paintings ;
it was often resorted to in the sculpture of
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The
wooden folding doors at the north end of
the transept of the church of St. Mary of
the Capitol, Cologne, which are figured
in Boisseree's " Monuments d' Architec-
ture du Rhin inferieur," plate IX, are
decorated with a series of rectangular
panels, each containing a scriptural sub-
ject represented in relief; and other in-
stances might be cited. It is possible
that these panelled arrangements were
suggested by some of the bas reliefs of
classical antiquity.

h This is particularly insisted upon by
the learned authors of the " Monographic
de la Cathedrale de Bourges," and in many
cases admits of easy proof.

c Representations of the latter kind are
by the French antiquarians termed the
"signatures" of the windows. See the
plates of the " Monographic de la Cathe-
drale de Bourges," and especially " usages
civiles A." See also Langlois' Essai,
cited above, plate I, in which engravings
of these subjects are given.

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

grounds, and the lighter colours in the objects represented
in the pictures — for the edgings of the various panels and
outer border of the window — and in the foliage, and other
ornaments. These efforts to produce distinctness were
materially assisted by the texture of the glass, and the
opacity of the iron framework for the support of the glass,
which in these windows is usually moulded to the shape of
the principal panels. The ancient artists however, seem
to have been sensible that such windows were most calcu-
lated for near inspection, and therefore commonly placed
them in the lower windows 'of a building. They also made
the pictures larger, and fewer in number, when they
designed a medallion window, as was sometimes the case,
for a clearstory light.

Medallion windows, which certainly seem most fitted to
occupy wide single lights, continued to be employed in this
country from the earliest period at which painted glass is
found, until the introduction into architecture of windows
either composed of two or more narrow lancets, or divided
into several lights by mullions. After this time white
pattern windows seem generally to have superseded the
medallion windows. In Prance, the medallion arrangement
was adhered to long after the single lancet had been
exchanged for the mullioned window : the lower lights, as
well as the geometrical tracery in the heads of the latter
windows, being filled with a series of panels, or pictures,
arranged so as best to accord with the architectural divi-
sions of the window d.

The arrangement of a circular, or wheel window, when the
space is free from mullions, does not materially differ from
that of a medallion window. The panels, and the subjects
they contain, are, however, in general larger in size in pro-

d See instances,— Lasteyrie, " Hist, de " Monographic de la Cathedrale de Bour-
la Peinture sur verre," plate XXIX; ges," plate, Etude XIII.

IARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

portion to the distance at which the window is placed from
the eyee.

When the circle is divided by mullions, the centre, or eye
of the window, is usually filled with a picture in colours,
and one or two small circular panels, containing a head, or
other picture in colours, are introduced into each of the
radiating lights, and embedded in a coloured or white
pattern. Sometimes the radiating lights are simply filled
with a mere pattern f. In France, after the introduction of
wheels into the tracery of windows, a very starlike appear-
ance was sometimes produced, lay carrying into the radiat-
ing lights of the- wheel, straight branches of foliage of a
light tint, diverging from the centre of the window and sur-
rounded with a deep coloured ground8.

Figure and canopy ivindows, strictly speaking, consist of
one large figure under a low crowned canopy, together oc-
cupying the whole of the window within the border ; or of
two or more such figures and canopies placed one above the
other. The canopy, like those on the tombs and seals of
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, is rude and simple,
and bears but a small proportion to the figure it covers.
The different members of the canopy are in general variously
coloured. The figure is usually executed in rich colours,
and put on a coloured ground11. Under the present division
of the subject, may, however, though with less propriety, be
included those windows which are composed of merely a

e See a rude woodcut of the remains of verre," plates XXI, XXV.

the glass in the circular window at the s See a coloured representation of this

north end of the east transept of Canter- arrangement, Lasteyrie's " Histoijre de la

bury cathedral, in Gostling's " Walk in Peinture sur verre," plate X. In another

and about the City of Canterbury." Can- plate, No. XX, the whole of the wheel,

terbury, 1825. p. 327. except the eye, is filled with a represen-

f See engravings in outline of the glass tation of the Day of Judgment,

in two early wheel windows, " Monogra- h See plate 3, which represents the mu-

phie de la Cathedrale deBourges," Etude tilated remains of a French figure and

XX, figs. A and C ; and coloured repre- canopy window of the thirteenth cen-

sentations of two later examples in Las- tury.
teyrie's " Histoire de la Peinture sur

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

single figure, on a coloured or white ground, without any
canopy ; and those windows whose design principally con-
sists of one large coloured panel, containing a single figure,
and surrounded with a coloured ground, or sometimes smaller
accessory figures i.

Windows of the above description, on account of the size
and fewness of their parts, possess a greater breadth of
colour, and are more distinct, when viewed from a distance,
than medallion windows ; for which reason, I apprehend,
they were generally assigned to the clearstory of a building,
the extremities of an aisle, &c. They appear to have been
employed at all periods of the style; and in France, at
least, in mullioned windows, as well as in single lancet
lights. When the lower lights of a mullioned window are
very long, small pictures are sometimes inserted above,
below, or between the figures.

Jesse windows consist of a representation of the tree of
Jesse, or illuminated chart of the genealogy of Christ. The
main stem, which is in general almost entirely hidden by
the fi gures, shoots upwards, and branches spring from it at
intervals, forming a series of oval panels, one above the
other, in which the principal figures are placed. Smaller
attendant figures are sometimes introduced outside of the
panels, resting their feet upon the lateral scrolls of foliage
which sprout from the main branches. In some windows

' See a variety of figure and canopy
windows, and their variations, in plates
XX, XXI, XXII, XXV, XXVI, XXVII,
and Etude XVIII. of the " Monographie
de la Cathddrale de Bourges." See also
plates XI. and XV. of Lasteyrie's " His-
toire de la Peinture sur verre." Amongst
the varieties of the figure and canopy
windows, may be classed the French and
German windows which represent gigantic
figures of St. Christopher. Of these there
is an example in the clearstory on the
east side of the south transept of Strasburg
cathedral. The figure, which is executed

in colours, and placed on a coloured
ground, reaches almost to the top of the
window ; it is, I think, upwards of thirty
feet high. It is said to have been brought
from Dreux cathedral. Lasteyrie's " His-
toire de la Peinture sur verre," part XL
An exterminating war appears to have
been waged in France against these un-
fortunate St. Christophers, between the
years 1768 and 1784 ; see " Monographie
de la Cathedrale de Bourges," p. 142.
note 1. M. Lasteyrie, p. 116, remarks
that the figure of Christopher is rarely
met with in the windows of churches.

IAELY ENGLISH STYLE. 37

the design is somewhat varied, being composed of a series
of pictures representing scenes from, or incident to, our
Saviour's life, and linked together by the branches of a
treek.

Jesse windows are in general appropriated to the win-
dows at the extremities of a building, and are usually con-
fined to a single lancet : the number of personages or
pictures, included in the design, varying with the length
of the light.

The coloured 'pattern windows of this style demand a
slight notice. They are by no means of common occur-
rence, but specimens may be met with at all periods of the
style.

The earliest example, perhaps, is the window at St.Denys,
figured in the sixth plate of M. Lasteyrie's elaborate work
on the History of Glass Painting, and which resembles a
Roman tessellated pavement in design. Other early in-
stances partake more of the character of a medallion win-
dow, being principally composed of panels, filled with
foliaged ornaments instead of pictures1. The later speci-
mens consist of a mixture of white and coloured pattern-
work. They occur in the pierced triforiums of various
continental buildings, and resemble Decorated glass paint-
ings more than Early English111. I have not hitherto met
with an English example of a genuine coloured Early
English pattern window.

The white windows, above alluded to, sometimes consist
exclusively of patterns, sometimes of an intermixture of

k See a representation of the remains Rhin inferieur." Munich and Stuttgard,

of a very early Jesse in York minster, 1842, plate LXXIII.
J3rowne's "History of the edifice of the 1 See plates III. and V. of Lasteyrie's

Metropolitan Church of St. Peter, York." " Histoire de la Peinture sur verre."
Lond. 1845, plate CXXIII. See also an » See plate XXII. of Lasteyrie's "His-

engraving of another very curious exam- toire de la Peinture sur verre," in which

pie, ofthe same subject, in the east window several instances of this kind of window

of St. Cunibert's church, Cologne, Bois- are given,
seree's "Monuments d' Architecture du

38 EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

heraldry, or coloured pictures in panels, with white pat-
terns. They appear to have been of rather a more late
introduction than coloured windows. The earliest specimen
that I have as yet met with in England, is perhaps a little
older than the middle of the thirteenth century.

Early English white patterns are composed of ornamented
quarries11, or of a series of panels, furnished with narrow
borders, and filled with foliaged scroll-work in outline, the
panels themselves being embedded either in ornamented
quarries, or in foliage, disposed in scrolls, or other forms,
and drawn in outline on white glass0. Little pieces of
coloured glass are often introduced by way of enrichment
amongst the quarries, or into the borders, and middles of
the panels, &c. The earlier white pattern windows were
used in single lancet lights. It is seldom that any other
subject is introduced into them than a small shield of
arms, and even this is by no means of frequent occurrence.
Early English windows, consisting of mere patterns, may
be met with at the latest period of the style ; but as the
style advanced, and lancet windows became longer and
narrower, and especially after the introduction of mullioned
windows, the white patterns were often enriched by the
insertion into them, at regular intervals, of coloured panels,
containing pictures. We may also remark, in Early English
mullioned windows, or even late triplets of lancets, the first
indication of a practice which extensively prevailed in the
succeeding style, that of carrying a belt of low-topped cano-
pies, with figures under them, like a horizontal stripe of
colour, right across the lower lights, the remainder of which
is filled with a white pattern.

n See an example, plate 1, taken from patterns from Salisbury cathedral," Mono-
one of the east windows of Westwell graphie de la Cathedrale de Bourges,"
church, Kent. Its date is about the Grisailles E. A compartment of one of
middle of the thirteenth century. each of the five sisters at York minster,

° See plates 5 and 6, both of which are is represented in Browne's history of that

taken from specimens of the close of the edifice (cited above) plates LXI, LXIII,

thirteenth century. See also a variety of LXV, LXVII, and LXIX.

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

The head of an Early English mullioned window seldom
exhibits a greater amount of colour than do its lower lights.
Circular panels, containing coloured subjects, or coats of
arms, sometimes occupy the centres of the tracery circles,
their foils, when the circles are cuspidated, being filled with
white glass bearing an outline pattern. In French windows,
however, the head of the window is often richly coloured,
while the lower lights are nearly white?.

One may perceive, I think, to a certain extent, in the
general preference for coloured or white windows in a
building, the prevalent taste of the time, not only as regards
fondness for colour, but for gloomy or light interiors. Thus
in the twelfth, and early part of the thirteenth century, when
the window openings, however spacious, were at long in-
tervals apart, the glass paintings used throughout the whole
building were generally dark with colour. Afterwards, in
proportion as the windows became more numerous, and were
placed closer together, the richer glass paintings at first were
confined to the further extremities of the edifice, as for
instance, the east and west windows of the nave, or even to
the central lancet of an eastern or western triplet ; the rest
of the windows, both of the aisles and clearstory, being
filled with white patterns, and at length they were dis-
pensed with altogether. . The effect of these arrangements,
coupled with the greatly increased number of apertures,
was materially to promote the admission of light into the
building.

The most interesting series of English picture windows
of this period that I have met with, is in Canterbury
cathedral. Remains of painted glass, of an earlier cha-
racter than this glass, are scattered about the country,
but they are chiefly valuable as specimens of detail. Of
the Canterbury glass, however, notwithstanding the severe

p See an example, "Monographic de la Cathedrale de Bourges," plate, Grisailles F.

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

Injuries it has sustained at different times, by actual vio-
lence, as well as neglect, and by being displaced in the
course of alterations and removals, enough still remains,
not only to afford abundant examples of detail, but also,
with the aid of the descriptions left of it by Sumner q and
Gostling1, pretty clearly to indicate the general nature and
arrangement of the windows, as they originally existed in
the choir of the building3.

It would seem on the whole, that the lower and upper
lights of the aisles, as well as those in the lower clearstory,
throughout that portion of Canterbury cathedral which
lies eastward of the central tower, were occupied with
medallion windows* ; that the lights in the upper clear-
story were filled with two large figures apiece, one above
the other" ; and that the design of the two circular windows
at the ends of the east transept, partook of the nature of
medallion windows, the subjects contained in them how-
ever being more simple, and of larger size, than those in
the lower medallion windows. This arrangement coincides
generally with that of the windows of Bourges, and other
French cathedrals ; and must, when the glass was perfect,
have produced an equally gloomy and solemn effect.

Some magnificent white pattern windows, coeval with the
building, still exist in Salisbury cathedral*. And if, as I

q Sumner's "Antiquities of Canter-
bury." Lond. 1640, p. 385.

r Gostling's " Walk in and about the
City of Canterbury." Canterbury, 1777,
p. 329. (2nd ed.)

• The former choir of Canterbury cathe-
dral was destroyed by fire in 11 74. The
first celebration of divine service took
place in the present choir in 1180, the
monks being separated by a wooden par-
tition, "having three glass windows in
it," from the unfinished part of the edi-
fice. In 1184 the present choir was com-
pleted. The translation of Becket's body
to the shrine in Trinity chapel took place
in 1220. Willis's "Architectural History
of Canterbury Cathedral," Lond. 1845.

No documents have hitherto been found
by which the date of the present glass
can he determined. It is I think of the
first half of the thirteenth century.

1 Sumner's description of some of these
windows is transcribed in the appendix
(C.)

u It is clear from Gostling's descrip-
tion, that the windows in the clearstory
represented the ancestors of Christ, enu-
merated in St. Matthew's and St. Luke's
Gospels.

x Viz. one at either end of both the
aisles of the nave, and three at the south
end of the east transept. These windows
are, however, in a mutilated state. Mo-
dern copies of some other glass have been

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

conceive, nearly all the windows of that edifice (with the ex-
ception at least of the three west windows of the nave,
which were always richly coloured7), were similarly orna-
mented, the interior of the building must originally have
been almost as light as it now is, and consequently must
have presented a totally different aspect from the choir of
Canterbury2. Other fine and very perfect examples of
white pattern windows, are afforded by the five sisters at
York*. These are rather later than the Salisbury windows,
and there is a great diminution of colour in their borders
compared with those at Salisbury. Their general effect is
however exceedingly grand and striking.

An early example, but on a comparatively small scale,
of a richly coloured window placed between two white
pattern windows, is at Westwell church, Kent. The east
end of this edifice is lighted by three independent lancets,
the centre one of which contains the remains of a re-
markably fine Jesseb. In one of the others are the remains

inserted in some of the other windows of
the cathedral. Salisbury cathedral was
commenced in 1220, and completed and
dedicated in 1258: the first celebration
of divine service in the new building took
place in 1225; and in 1226, William
Longspee, earl of Sarum, was buried
there ; and the bodies of St. Osmond,
Bp. Roger, and Bp. Joceline, translated
thither from Old Sarum. See Britton's
" History and Antiquities of the Cathe-
dral Church of Salisbury." Lond. 1836.

y Some of the glass in these windows
is said to have been brought from Nor-
mandy some years ago. There is, how-
ever, a good deal of English glass in
them, much mixed. Amongst other sub-
jects there are, if I mistake not, the re-
mains of a fine Early English Jesse.

z The windows of the chapter-house of
Salisbury appear to have been also filled
with white patterns. Some of the glass is
represented in one of the plates of Brit-
ton's History of the Cathedral (cited
above.)

It is a curious fact, coupled with the
restricted use of colour in the windows,
that the roofs of both the nave and chapter-

house of Salisbury cathedral, are adorned
with slight paintings representing foli-
aged ornaments, and executed principally
with a sort of brown colour. The paint-
ings on the roof of the nave are unfor-
tunately in great measure obscured by
Mr. Wyatt's yellow wash, with which
they are covered.

a A general view of these windows is
given in plate XXVIII. of Britton's
" History of York Cathedral." The five
small windows above the sisters are filled
with modern glass.

b In Hasted's "Historyof Kent," pub-
lished in 1797, vol. vii. p. 426, (second
edition,) it is stated that this window con-
sisted of four ovals, each containing a
figure sitting, crowned, and holding a
sceptre. The two lower ovals however
were blown in by the wind and destroyed
some years ago. The two upper ovals
would probably ere this have shared the
same fate, had they not been carefully
re-leaded a few years since by Mr. Wille-
ment, under the directions of William
Twopeny, Esq., of the Temple, the old
lead-work being then quite decayed. The
figure of the Virgin Mary occupies the

42 EARLY ENGLISH STYLE,

of a beautiful quarry pattern with a rich border, a sketch
of which is given in plate 1. The thiid lancet, which in
all probability was once ornamented lite the last, is now
filled with modern white glass.

A fine instance of a composition consisting of an inter-
mixture of coloured panels with white patterns, is afforded
by the five lancet windows at the east end of Chetwode
church, Bucks c. Specimens, in a more or less perfect
state, of small white pattern windows, with or without
panels inserted in them, are very common towards the
close of the style.

The following summary of the most prominent points
connected with the details of this style, may prove a useful
introduction to the more minute, and necessarily dry and
tedious investigation of these matters, which completes the
present section.

The foliaged ornaments are very conventional and un-
natural, closely resembling the forms used in Norman
and Early English sculpture.

Scrolls of foliage are not formed out of one continuous
tendril, but of a series of short stalks, or leaves ; the scroll
therefore, whether executed in white, or coloured glass,
appears as if it were divided into a number of short lengths
of foliage; this effect is increased when the scroll is
coloured, as in that case each length of foliage is frequently
of a different colour from the adjoining lengthsd. Foliaged

lowest oval, and that of the Father Al- from Salisbury cathedral, in Shaw's " En-
mighty the upper ; above which is a cyclopaedia of Ornament." See also a
representation of the Holy Ghost. coloured scroll-work from Canterbury

c A general view of these windows is cathedral, in the last publication : and

given in Lysons' "Buckinghamshire," other coloured scroll-works in some of

p. 540, and a more detailed drawing of the plates of the " Monographie de la

some of the glass at p. 488. The letter- Cathedrale de Bourges."

press should be consulted along with these The general resemblance borne by the

plates, since Mr. Lysons admits in it that Early English scroll-works to the An-

he has taken some liberties with the de- tique, will at once appear by comparing

d See for example the white scroll- plates of any work treating on classical

works in plate 6, and the white pattern ornament.

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

and other patterns, on white glass, are usually boldly out-
lined, and rendered more distinct by covering the surround-
ing ground with a cross-hatching of thin dark lines. Early
English white pattern windows, in England generally con-
sist of panelled arrangements, the foliaged scroll works
being confined within the panels, and seldom extending
from one panel into another; when this is the case, it
indicates lateness of style.

The figures are tall, stiff, and disproportioned, like those
in the illuminations and sculpture of this period. In the
earlier examples, the draperies appear almost to adhere
to the limbs, admitting of an exaggerated development
of the joints. The earlier heads remind us of the Byzan-
tine school, the later are often well conceived, and possess a
certain character of the antique ; all are rudely executed.
The features, and folds of the drapery, are very strongly
outlined6. Pink coloured glass is generally employed in
the naked parts of the figures.

The glass of this period usually is, and always appears
to be, very thick and substantial. The white is generally
of a bluish green tint. The ruby is very streaky, and
uneven in depth. The yellow is a pot-metal, cold and
greenish, and generally light. The blue is of a pure
sapphire tint, one sort being very deep, the other quite
light. Blue and red are the predominating colours in
medallion windows, being extensively employed in grounds.

I now proceed to a minute examination of the details of
Early English glass paintings, under the following separate
heads.

1. Texture and colour of the glass.

The glass of this period, though sufficiently transparent,
when unobscured by decomposition, to enable objects to

e See plates 2, 3, 4, 6, 28, 32, 34, 35, and 36.

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

be easily seen through it, is yet less homogeneous, and
consequently not so perfectly transparent as modern glass.
This peculiarity in the texture of the material imparts to
the lightest coloured pot-metals, and even to the white
glass itself, a remarkable degree of richness and strength,
admirably adapted to harmonize with the stiff and hard
execution of the paintings. It also occasions the colours
to preserve their distinctive tints, when wrought in minute
pieces into mosaics.

The blue glass of this period in general possesses a
peculiar tint, like that of a sapphire. There are two kinds
of it, the one very deep, the other light. The darker kind
is usually employed in the grounds of panels or patterns,
the lighter more commonly in draperies and ornaments,
than in grounds.

The ruby is exceedingly rich, and generally of a crimson
hue. It is very irregularly coloured, some parts, even of a
very small piece of glass, frequently being of so deep a
red as to appear black at a little distance, whilst others
are almost white ; the colour is generally in streaks, and
appears as if it had been laid on with a brush. Some very
curious particulars relating to the ruby of this, and the
Decorated period, have already been mentioned in one of
the notes to the Introduction ; to which the reader is re-
ferred for further information on the subject.

The white glass throughout this style varies much in
tint, and in its power of resisting the corroding action of
the atmosphere : two kinds of glass are not unfrequently
met with in the same painting. Some of the earliest, when
examined closely, is almost of a cobalt hue, though when
contrasted with other colours, and seen at a distance, it
appears white : some is indeed almost quite white. The
sort most commonly met with, especially in the latter
part of this period, is of a rich sea-green tint ; some

IARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

specimens are much bluer than others. It varies much
in tliickness, and consequently in depth of colour. This
occasions varieties of tint in a window wholly composed
of white glass of the same manufacture, especially when
it is much corroded or weather-stained : for jthe brown
film which attaches itself to all the glass without distinc-
tion., is more apparent in the thin pieces, than in the thick,
being to a certain extent lost in the deeper local tint of the
latter. The yellow glass, which is a pot-metal, is in general
light, and of a cold tone : but sometimes it is very deep,
rich, and golden : it never partakes of an orange hue.

Green varies from a cold, though very rarely raw, tint,
to a fine rich olive. Many tints of it often occur in the
same glass painting.

Purples and pinks may be met with of almost every
shade of colour and intensity. A curious fact in reference
to the texture of a piece of Early English purple glass
which I have examined, has already been mentioned in one
of the notes to the Introduction.

A. kind of yellowish pink glass, resembling salmon
colour, is extensively employed as a flesh colour in Early
English glass paintings. That used for the figures of men
is in general deeper, and redder, than that used for the
figures of women and children. In some specimens, par-
taking more of a pink hue, the colour is streaky, as in
ruby glass.

2. Mode of execution.
The glass paintings of this period, whether consisting of
pictures or patterns, are full of strong dark lines of enamel
brown, which are used not only to delineate the forms of the
objects represented, but also for the purpose of heightening,
if not wholly representing, the deeper shadows. These lines
are in general, I think, thickest in works executed about
the middle of the thirteenth century, but at all times their

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

breadth is remarkable, as is also their fulness of colour, to
which their blackness is attributable. In large figures, and
their canopies, &c. the lines are, in their widest parts, often
twice or thrice the width of the leads. When used to
represent shadows, they taper off to a fine point. They
always seem to have been drawn with a bold firm hand,
and a stiff and elastic pencil full of colour. These lines,
by breaking and cutting up the work, have a tendency to
impart a mosaic appearance to it, even when the largest
pieces of glass enter into its composition. They always
however render the drawing distinct and effective, not-
withstanding the strong colouring of the glass, which is
naturally calculated to kill and obscure the paintingf.

Outline patterns on glass are frequently rendered more
distinct, by cross-hatching the ground around them with
thin black lines. These, although often as fine as a hair,
are as black and full of colour as the thick lines before
mentioned5. When seen at a distance, the cross-hatching
is apt to resemble a shaded ground. The cross-hatching
is in general much coarser in the upper windows of a
building, than in the lower windows; it is sometimes
omitted in the upper windows.

Smear shadows are extensively employed in the draperies
of the figures, in the architectural parts of the composition,
and in the foliage and other ornaments, sometimes alone,
sometimes in addition to the strong shading lines above
described. The shadows always appear to have been put
in broadly, and at once, with a thin wash of brown paint,
and when requisite, are softened off towards the edges, by
a few streaky strokes of the brush \ I have seldom noticed

f See plates 4, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, and Bourses," Etude III. I should caution

• c . the student that in many of the full-sized

* See plates 29, 30, 31, 33, 1, 5, and 6. plates of the last-mentioned work, the
bee plates 34, 35, 36. See also an shading is very incorrectly given : this is

excellent representation of smear shad- particularly the case with Etude X, in
ing, " Monographic de la Cathedrale de which lights are introduced, which can

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

any attempt at heightening a shadow by a second applica-
tion of colour on the same side of the glass, but a second
coat, corresponding with the deeper parts of the shadow, is
often to be found on the opposite side of the glass. In
general these washes are too faint to be distinguished at
a distance. A thicker coat of brown was also used as a
colour, in certain cases. The hair and beards of the figures
are usually covered with it1, as are occasionally horses, and
other animals. Diaper patterns are not uncommon during
this period, they are scraped out of a smear ground.

3. Figures.

The figures of this period are in general disproportion-
ately tall and slender ; and their lower limbs are far too
long for the body and arms. The draperies are full of
small folds, like the antique, but are stiff, scanty, and close.
In the earlier specimens they are wrapped so tightly about
the body, as to appear as if they adhered to it, the joints of
the limbs being often shewn through the garments in an
unnatural and extravagant manner. The naked figures are
attenuated and meager, and the details badly and inarti-
ficially drawn. The hands and feet more nearly resemble
combs or rakes, than the extremities of the human form.
The joints and knuckles are often marked by a couple of
thin straight lines drawn right across the hand or foot\
More skill is however shewn in the treatment of the heads,
which in their general contour usually bear a certain re-
semblance to the antique. The faces are in general oval,

have no existence in the glass itself. Even of a figure of the early part of the thir-

Etude III. is not quite free from this teenth century, or perhaps close of the

defect. twelfth, is given in Browne's " History

i See plates 34, 35, 36. of the Edifice of the Metropolitan

k Plates 2— 4, and 6, may suffice to shew Church of St. Peter, York," plate

the general character of Early English CXXIII. For other examples of thir-

figures, of the middle and latter part of teenth century figures, see "Monogra-

the thirteenth century. A representation phie de la Cathedrale de Bourges."

48 EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

and nearly of the classical proportion ; the eyes large, the
mouth small and well formed, and the chin round.

In the earlier examples, the hair of the head is usually
arranged in flat curved plaits, (which have been not inaptly
compared to maccaroni,) or in crisp short well defined
locks. The eye is apt to have a spectral or staring ex-
pression, from the too great exposure of its pupil. The
beard is symmetrically smoothed down on either side of
the chin, and the parting of the masses of hair in the
middle of the chin, is carefully marked ; in small figures,
by an oval clot, or stroke. The eye-brows, outline of the
nose, and opening of the mouth, are in general strongly
delineated.

In the later figures, the hair both of the head and beard
becomes more flowing ; and a more natural expression is
given to the eye, although it still continues full, and is,
like the eye-brow and eye-lids, strongly marked1.

Notwithstanding their rudeness, and defective drawing,
the Early English figures in general possess great merit.
Simple and unaffected, they are often grandly conceived,
though they may be imperfectly executed, through the
artist's want of technical skill. A deep and lively feeling
often pervades the entire figure, and its countenance,
though frequently distorted and exaggerated, is apt to
exhibit both expression and character, in a far more striking
degree than is usually the case with later works.

The Early English artists were particularly happy in
their representations of deified and sainted personages, the

1 Excellent representations of three istics of a much earlier example. Fig. 2

heads from Abbot Suger's glass at St. in the same plate is of the middle of

Denys, the full size of the originals, are the thirteenth century, as are those re-

given in the " Monographic de la Cathe- presented in plates 28 and 35. The

drale de Bourges," Etude VII. The heads in plate 36 are of the latter half of

earliest head in the present work is given the thirteenth century, and that in plate

in plate 34, figure 1. Though in reality 32 is of the close of the Early English

only a little anterior to the middle of the period,
thirteenth century, it has the character-

EiRLY ENGLISH STYLE.

peculiarity of the style, as shewn in the formality and
severity of the countenances, and the stiff and unnatural
character of the draperies, contributing to produce a solemn
effect well suited to the subject.

A similar style of drawing to that already noticed, may
be observed in the painting of other objects besides the
human figure. Some things however, such as animals,
trees, water, and clouds, are frequently drawn and coloured
in a manner so conventional, and at variance with nature,
as to require some ingenuity to discover their meaning.

The head and naked parts of the human figure are, as
before mentioned, most commonly composed of flesh-coloured
glass"1, which from the combined effect of shading and age
usually acquires a rich brown tint. Sometimes however
only white glass is used, instead of flesh-coloured.

The heads of the figures are in general boldly and strongly
outlined, and smear shaded, as before mentioned. The
smear shading is however never carried over the eye-balls.
In large figures, though the salmon or flesh, colour is used
for the rest of the countenance, the eyes are often made
of white glass ; and the beard and hair are frequently repre-
sented on pieces of blue, green, yellow, or other coloured
glass, leaded in.

The costume of the figures affords too some criterion of
date. Robes, whether lay or ecclesiastical, are generally
short, in male figures hardly reaching to the ancles, and
in female scarcely more than touching the ground11. They
are often ornamented with a jewelled band, sometimes ex-
pressed merely by black outlines, sometimes by a strip of
glass of a different colour to the robe, passing horizontally
right across the middle of the garment, wholly irrespective
of folds.

m This is represented in the coloured » See, for instance, plates 2 and 6.
plates of this work.

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

In the ecclesiastical dress, the other chief distinguishing
features are the triangular shape and flatness of the mitre,
and the simplicity of the crozier, which last is seldom more
than a mere crook0.

The female dress usually consists of a close garment with
tight sleeves, and a loose robe or cope, and shoes. The head
is sometimes bare, but more commonly draped.

The male dress, usually appropriated to prophets and
dignified persons, likewise consists of a close garment, con-
fined at the waist and furnished sometimes with tight,
sometimes with loose sleeves, a robe or cope, and long
hose, to which is often added a cap, greatly resembling
the Phrygian bonnet p. The costume of ordinary persons
is generally a short tunic confined at the waist, and reach-
ing nearly to the knees, and sometimes a short cloak;
when this is used, the legs of the figure are generally
represented encased in hose, or a loose sort of stocking
setting in folds about the leg, and with or without shoes :
otherwise the legs are left bare.

Military fi gures are usually armed with the hauberk and
coin© de mailles, and sometimes, in the later examples
especially, with the chausses of mail. The sword has a
large round pommel, and pointed tapering blade, very
broad towards the hilt, and having apparently a channel
or groove down the middle.

The malicious expression of the countenance of an exe-
cutioner, often reminds one of an antique mask.

4. Foliage, &c.

By far the greater part of Early English decorative work
is composed of foliage. The form of the leaves is, as before

0 See plate 2.

p This is particularly shewn in the
representations of Suger's glass at St.

Denys, " Monographie de la Cathedrale
de Bourges," Etudes VII. and VI.

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

mentioned, very conventional and unnatural. The earlier
foliage partakes much of the cut 4.

character of the antique, and £
closely resembles the imita-
tions of the ancient honey-
suckle met with in Norman
carvings'5. The later foliage
is more like that exhibited
in the architectural details of a Border, from York
Early English work, from which it appears to be taken : the
bulbous projecting lobes of the leaf are often attempted to
be represented in the glass by means of a fine outliner. It
is frequently formed into beautiful concentric spiral scrolls,
broken into short lengths by the overlapping of the leaves.
When the scroll is executed in coloured glass, each length
is usually of a different colour to the adjoining lengths.
Bunches of grapes are frequently introduced amongst the
foliage8.

In all cases the form of the leaf is delineated with great
precision and force. The trefoil and cinquefoil are the
most common terminations. The leaves are occasionally
shaded with smear shading, but their curves and over-
lappings are most commonly expressed by mere lines.

Eoliage is likewise employed in a variety of ways to
ornament the straight or curved narrow fillets of glass, so
often used in Early English decorations: but though

■> Cut 4 is from a border in one of the
clearstory windows of York minster. A
coloured representation of the same bor-
der, but on a much larger scale, is given in
an instructive series of examples, arranged
according to their order in point of age,
in Browne's " History of the Metropoli-
tan Church of St. Peter, York," plate
CXXVIII. It appears coeval with the
curious Jesse figured in plate CXXIII.
of the last-mentioned work ; and is per-
haps of the close of the twelfth, or more

probably of the early part of the thir-
teenth century. Some foliage of the
first half of the thirteenth century is re-
presented in Boisseree's "Monuments d'
Architecture du Rhin inferieur," plate
LXXII. Another example is given in
plate 27, fig. 1, of the present work.

r See plates 5, 6, 30, and 33.

s For examples, I must refer to the
engravings already mentioned in the
notes to the present style.

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

necessarily of different form, it is of the same character as
that already described1.

A very common ornament for a fillet, is a row of bead?
the width of the fillet, on a black groundu. And another
as common, appears to be taken from the Ionic ovolo fillet.
A representation of the last is given in the margin, and
having to refer to it again, I shall by way of distinction call

Cut 5.

The Scalloped Ornament, Stanton Harconrt Church, Oxfordshire,

it the scalloped ornament. Various combinations of this
ornament are to be met with in Early English glass paint-
ings v.

5. Borders.

The ordinary border almost invariably has an edging on
either side, of one or more narrow strips of white or
coloured glass; or a row of beads, in lieu of one of the
strips ; and the interior space is usually filled with a pattern
composed of various combinations of foliage, or of foliage
and fillets ; and occasionally, of a series of small medallions
formed of foliage, and each containing a figure, like the
medallion moulding in architecture. The pattern is usually
variegated, and the general ground of the border deep blue
or red. Sometimes however, while the edging of the border
retains its colour, the interior space is chiefly filled with

4 See plate 29, fig. 2. the border of the light in plate 6, are

u See plate 27, fig. 2. but combinations of the scalloped orna-

v The rose in plate 31, and those in ment.

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

white glass, with foliage or some other kind of ornament
painted on it.

Such borders, when the window is wide, and consists of
one light only, are generally carried quite round the open-
ing ; and the little square which is often formed at either
extremity of the bottom of the window, by the intersection
of the edgings to the border, is commonly filled with a dis-
tinct pattern, or ornament. The width of the border is
generally one-sixth of the entire width of the window.
In very large windows it is about one-eighth or one-ninth,
varying however from one-fourth to one-thirteenth, or
thereabouts.

Sometimes however, whatever may be the date of the
window, a few plain strips of coloured or white glass, or a
row of beads, supplies the place of a more elaborate border.
In the latest examples, borders are to be met with formed
of quatrefoils, fleurs-de-lis, or other figures placed at regular
distances apart, on a coloured ground. Their breadth
sometimes does not exceed one-nineteenth of the whole
width of the window w.

6. Patterns.

The pattern on an Early English quarry, whether formed
of white or coloured glass, in general consists of a flower,
or some other figure, or bunch of foliage, of the same con-
ventional character as those which usually occur in Early
English ornamental work, and sometimes, in the later
examples, of a rudely shaped fleur-de-lis. The quarry is

w See a variety of borders, Browne's scale, Mosaiques bordures, &c. D."

"History of tbe Metropolitan Church of (Some examples of medallion borders are

St. Peter, York," plates CXXVIII, LXI, given in Etude VIII.) See also plates 1

LXIII, LXV, LXVII, LXIX. : Las- and 6 of the present work. I ought per-

teyrie, "Histoire de la Peinture sur haps to mention, that fig. 1, plate 27, is

verre," plates XXXIV, I, III, V, XI, part of a border. A coloured border from

XVI, XXIV, XXIX, &c. : " Monogra- Canterbury cathedral is given in Shaw's

phie de la Cathedrale de Bourges," pas- " Encyclopaedia of Ornament."
sim, and especially some on a large

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

generally handed on all, or two only of its sides, in such a
manner, as, when several quarries are arranged together, to
produce in concert with the lead lines, an interlaced pattern
independent of the ornament on the quarry. The pattern
is in general very strongly outlined, and the ground of the
quarry is commonly covered with a cross-hatching of thin
black lines x.

The coloured patterns which fill the interstices between
the panels of a medallion window, are frequently formed of
concentric scrolls of foliage, variously coloured, and em-
bedded in a coloured ground. They are sometimes of a
geometrical character, consisting of a reticulated work of
narrow strips of coloured glass, between which coloured
ornamented quarries are inserted, or, of small circular orna-
mented pieces of glass of one colour placed close together,
on a plain or ornamented ground of a different colour.
Sometimes the pattern has a loricated appearance, pieces of
glass of one colour, edged with pieces of glass of another
colour, being so arranged as to resemble the scales of a fish.
The variety of these patterns is however too great to be
particularly enumerated. Representations of several ex-
amples are given in the "Monographic de la Cathedrale
de Bourges," and in M. Lasteyrie's " History of Glass
Painting."

White patterns are composed sometimes merely of white
quarries, in which case the same ornament is repeated on
each quarry in the same light, but more frequently they
consist of various panelled arrangements. In these com-
positions, the whole or greater part of the area of the
window within the border, is occupied with panels of
various shapes and sizes, each bordered with ornamented
fillets and rows of beads, narrow strips of white glass, &c,
and containing within itself a distinct foliaged pattern

x See plates 1 and 31.

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 55

drawn in outline on white glass. The panels sometimes
only touch one another, sometimes they appear as if they
were laid upon each other, the larger panels being under-
most, and the smaller ones uppermost. When the whole
area is not covered with the panels, the interstices between
them are filled with white ornamented quarries, or with
foliaged patterns, drawn in outline on white glass y.

It is curious to trace the various modifications of the
panelled arrangement until it was merged in the running
patterns of the succeeding style. The first indication of the
change is in those examples in which the panels are repre-
sented without broad and distinct borders, their outlines
being marked with a single line of colour only ; still later,
the coloured lines will be found to have entirely lost their
character as borders, the foliaged pattern not being confined
within their limits, but spreading itself over other parts of
the window independently of them2.

Another species of pattern, of as early introduction as
the panelled arrangement, is formed by dividing the light
into lozenge-shaped compartments, by straight lines of
colour interwoven with each other; each compartment
being filled with a separate foliaged pattern on white glass.

It would however be tedious to enumerate all the
different varieties of white pattern windows. They all
partake more or less of the character of quarry patterns, or
of panelled arrangements.

Pictures, or shields of arms, when introduced into a
white pattern, sometimes occupy the place of one of the
panels, but are more frequently inserted without any refer-

y See plates 1, 5, and 6. See also en- 1 Compare the patterns of the five

gravings of some of the Salisbury pat- sisters at York, engraved in Browne's

terns, " Monographie de la Cathedrale " History of the Metropolitan Church of

de Bourges," Grisailles E. A pattern St. Peter, York," plates LXI, LXIII,

from Salisbury, and another from South- LXV, LXVII, LXIX, with the Salis-

well church, are engraved in Shaw's bury patterns, mentioned in the last

" Encyclopaedia of Ornament." note.

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

ence to the general groundwork of the window, a part of
which appears as if it had been cut out to admit thema.

7. Pictures.

These are in general contained within coloured panels,
of various shapes and sizes, having narrow edgings, or
borders, composed sometimes merely of ornamented fillets,
beads, and narrow strips of plain white and coloured glass,
and sometimes, in addition to these matters, of an inscrip-
tion explanatory of the subject represented in the panel.
The panels, when large, are sometimes divided into two, or
even five distinct compartments, each of which contains a
separate picture, and is separated from the others by a
narrow border of its own. The same subject sometimes
extends into two adjacent panels, but in general it is con-
fined to one, and with the occasional exception of a pro-
truding foot, or arm, &c, is kept strictly within the limits
of the panel.

In medallion windows, each subject forms in general, as
before mentioned, a separate incident of one entire story,
which is represented by the aggregate of the pictures in
the window. The subjects chosen are in general simple in
themselves, and are treated in a simple manner. The
meaning of the picture is expressed by the action of the
group, with but little assistance derived from accessory
parts. Pew persons only are introduced into the picture,
even where the representation of a multitude would be
sanctioned by the nature of the subject. I have hardly
ever seen a group consisting of more than a dozen figures,
and this number is more than twice as great as the usual
average.

The character of the individual fig ares has been already

a See an example, plate 6. Plate 8, may be referred to in illustration of
though taken from a Decorated specimen, the text.

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

described ; that of the groups is in general vigorous and
energetic.

When the incident requires to be represented within or
near a building, a few open arches, roofs, battlements, &c.
are usually introduced in the upper part of the panel, and
a little water, a tree, or even some grass at the feet of the
figures, generally serves to indicate a landscape. Some-
times the figures appear simply to stand upon, or move
along, a narrow horizontal line of colour.

The whole picture is represented on a stiff ground of
colour, usually of deep blue or red glass. The ground,
when composed of the former colour, is occasionally diapered.
Sometimes little round pieces of glass, of a different colour,
are inserted to break the monotony of the ground.

The lighter colours are in general employed in the figures
and other objects, more, as it would seem, with the inten-
tion of rendering them distinct and visible from a distance,
than with any regard to the tints of nature. Accordingly,
red, light blue, purple, white, yellow, and flesh-coloured trees,
horses, houses, and cattle, are not unfrequent. And as the
more positive tints are bestowed quite as freely on what
are intended for the most distant, as on the nearest objects,
and as the drawing and arrangement of the design betoken
an almost utter disregard of the rules of perspective, the
picture appears like the representation of a plane surface,
having all its parts equidistant from the eyeb.

b Some of the earliest pictures in ex-
istence, being copied from the venerable
remains of Suger's glass at St. Denys,
are carefully represented in the " Mono-
graphic de la Cathedrale de la Bourges,"
Etudes VI. and VII. Engiavings of
other specimens of Suger's glass, the
originals of which no longer exist, are
given in Montfaucon, " Les Monumens
de la Monarchie Francaise," torn. i.
plates L, LI, LII, LIII, and LIV, but
they are unfortunately so incorrectly
drawn, as to be of no further use to the

student of painted glass, than as giving
the general design of the subjects, which
represent incidents from the first cru-
sade. See an interesting commentary
on these pieces of glass, in Meyrick's
" Critical Inquiry into Ancient Armour,"
vol. i. p. 39 et seq. The objects which
are there (p. 44) conjectured to be ves-
sels of the crusaders drawn upon the
shore, amounted, I suspect, in the ori-
ginal glass, to nothing more than a con-
ventional representation of the turf or
ground beneath the combatants' feet. A

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

It is the smallness of the figures and ornaments in
medallion windows, and the consequent minuteness of the
various pieces of glass, that, coupled with the strength of
the outlines, gives to these works that highly mosaic appear-
ance, which, as before remarked, has often occasioned them
to be likened to a rich Turkey carpet.

The figures in the panels are, however, always rendered
the most conspicuous objects in the design, partly by their
colouring, but principally by their being drawn much larger
than any of the surrounding ornaments. The main divisions
of the composition, the panels, and border of the window,
are distinctly marked by their respective edgings, even when
their ground colours are alike : and the coloured grounds
have the effect of giving breadth and harmony to the
design, and are useful in counteracting the spotty appear-
ance which would otherwise be occasioned by the variegated
tints of the ornaments and figures.

I should here add, that though the ground colour of
the panels, border, and interstices between the panels is
often alike, red, or deep blue, it not unfrequently happens
that deep blue is the ground colour of the panels, and light
blue, or red, that of the rest of the window ; or that red is
the ground colour of the panels and border, and deep blue
that of the rest of the window.

8. Canopies.

These are simple in design, and small, compared with
the figures they cover. In form they closely resemble those
met with on the tombs and seals of this period. A represen-
tation of a mutilated specimen is given in the third plate
of this work, and others are to be found in the " Mono-

variety of other medallions of later date teyrie's " Histoire de la Peinture sur
are engraved in the " Monographie de verre." See also the second plate of the
la Cathedrale de Bourges," and in Las- present work.

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

graphie de la Cathedrale de Bourges," and M. Lasteyrie's
" History of Glass Painting."

The crown of the canopy is low, and usually consists of
a pointed gable, either plain, or crocketed, surmounting a
semicircular or trefoiled arch, which just clears the head of
the figure, and springs from the capital of a slender shaft
on either side of the canopy. The sides of the roofs of
two other gables placed at right angles to that in front, are
also very commonly represented, and the whole is often sur-
mounted with a number of little domes or turrets, having
apparently but little connection with the rest of the design.
Sometimes however the arch is dispensed with, the opening
being terminated simply by the lines of the gable. Some-
times the gable is omitted, small roofs, turrets, and'domes,
being heaped together above the arch. The canopy appears
like a flat surface ; no attempt being made to represent the
hollowness of a niche, either by the drawing or shading.
The different parts of the canopy are variously coloured, and
are frequently shaded with smear shading.

The intervening space between the inside of the arch
and side shafts, and the figure, is filled with a plain ground,
almost always of colour, and of a different tint to the
ground which surrounds the head of the canopy. The
canopy generally terminates abruptly at bottom in a
horizontal line; upon which the feet of the figure often
appear to rest, though the toes sometimes project a little
below it. The figure however not unfrequently stands
upon a piece of turf or grass. The name of the personage-
represented is generally written in large characters in a
straight line, beneath its feet, or within the arch, level with
the shoulders; but sometimes on a flowing scroll held in
the hand.

Plate 6. of this work represents what may be considered
an early instance of the introduction of a small canopy into

60 EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

the middle of a pattern window, (a practice which so gene-
rally obtained in the succeeding style,) though the ornament
which surrounds the figure is perhaps more strictly a tre-
foil-headed panel than a canopy0.

The figures in large figure and canopy windows, occupy-
ing positions at a considerable distance above the eye,
as the windows of a clearstory, are often exaggerated in
height, in order to counteract the shortening effect of
perspective.

9. Heraldry.

Heraldic achievements at this period were confined to the
shield of arms alone, without any other addition. The
shield is invariably of the heater form, and the more elon-
gated in proportion to its antiquity. The charges on it
are always very simple. Its field is not diapered, but the
glass composing it is left quite plain.

10. Mechanical construction.'
Coloured Early English windows, owing to the mosaic
and broken nature of their colouring, and the employment
of a separate piece of glass for each individual colour,
always contain a vast quantity of lead-work. In pictures, and
coloured ornaments, the leads are scarcely perceptible, being
in general thrown into the outlines. In white pattern
windows, the leads, when incapable of being brought into
the design, are made to take such curves amongst the

c The subject of plate 6 was copied in the windows of the first triplet on the
about three years ago from the glass in north side, and also of the triplet on the
the westernmost light of the second trip- south side, opposite the window contain-
let of lancets, counting from the east, ing the canopy. The eastern triplet con-
on the north side of the chancel of Stan- tained no painted glass. I have but
ton Harcourt church, Oxon. Below the little doubt that alf the glass in this
canopy was one panel more of the same chancel was originally of the same cha-
white pattern as is represented in the racter, but I cannot say whether there
plate, in a nearly perfect state. Frag- was a double, or only a single tier of
ments of similar patterns were to be seen canopies crossing the light.

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

foliaged scroll-work, as to cause their presence frequently
to pass unnoticed d.

In all except medallion windows, the glass is formed
into rectangular glazing panels, of convenient length and
size, which are attached in the usual way to the saddle bars
passing horizontally across the light.

In medallion windows, an iron framework, taking the
form of the principal medallions, is firmly fixed in the
sides of the window, and is in some cases strengthened
by a second frame-work, of a similar shape, in like manner
inserted in the stone-work, and placed at the distance of
a foot or two from the first, with which it is connected
by a number of short bars, perpendicular to the plane
of each frame-worke. The glazing panels of the window,
which coincide in form with the panels themselves, or then-
principal divisions, are each often surrounded with a flat
iron rim. Straight iron bars attached to this rim afford
a support to the glass, which is fastened to them by
leaden bands, and the whole panel is secured in its place
by bolts passing through the rim to the iron frame-work.
Sometimes however the iron rim is dispensed with, in
which case the straight iron bars are attached to the frame-
work itself, and the glass is bound to them with leaden
bands, as before mentioned. The iron of which the fixed
framework is made, is often two inches wide, and one inch
thick, and sometimes of greater substance. Its broadest
surface being in the same plane with the glass, serves
by its opacity to render the pictorial divisions of the window
more distinct.

The existence of a fixed iron frame-work in an Early
English window, is unfortunately too often the only evi-
dence of its having once been a medallion window : but

d The lead-work in plate 6 deserves e Some of these double frame-works
attention. still exist at Canterbury cathedral.

EARLY ENGLISH STYLE.

the particular arrangement of the design should not be
too hastily inferred from the form of the iron-work,
which, in general, can be said to indicate only the main
divisions of the glass painting f.

In the wheel windows at the south end of the transept
of Strasburg cathedral, and in the west end of the nave
of St. Thomas's church in that city, stone tracery, of the
Flamboyant period, has been substituted for the original
iron frame-work; the ancient medallion glass paintings
still being retained in these windows.

1L Letters.

The letters used in Early English inscriptions are those
known by the name of " Lombardic capitals." Instances
are given in plates 2 and 6. An inscription was
generally formed by covering a piece of glass with a coat
of enamel brown, out of which the letters were afterwards
scraped. In inscriptions of large size, the letters are some-
times cut out of white or yellow glass, and leaded into a
coloured ground.

SECTION II.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

This style appears to have prevailed about one hundred
years, viz., from 1280 to 1380.

One of its most distinctive features is the natural form
of its foliaged ornaments : in these the leaves of the ivy,
maple, oak, and other trees and plants may be easily
recognised.

These more exact imitations of nature were rather spa-

f The form of the iron- work in some cathedral is given" in the engravings to
of the principal windows of Canterbury Britton's history of that edifice.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

ringly used at the commencement of the style, and did not,
at least in white patterns, wholly supersede the older and
more conventional forms until the end of the reign of
Edward I., or a little after.

It is principally in works executed between 1280, and
the end of the reign of Edward I., that the test of style
afforded by the presence of the naturally formed leaf is
most valuable ; for they bear in general so close a resem-
blance in other respects to the later Early English glass
paintings, that without this mark it would be difficult in
many cases satisfactorily to distinguish them from each
other g.

This resemblance principally arises from the early Deco-
rated glass paintings being composed of glass of the same
texture as the later Early English glass paintings. Hence
the general appearance of early Decorated coloured windows
though extremely rich, is by no means gay; and that of
white windows is grey and cold. The grandeur of each
sort is enhanced by the great width sometimes given to
the lower lights of early Decorated windows h.

Towards the end of the reign of Edward I., and after-
wards, many other points of difference between the two
styles are observable ; amongst which should be particu-
larly noticed the employment of the yellow stain, which
seems to have been introduced soon after the commence-
ment of the fourteenth century. The colour thus produced
is in general easily distinguishable by its lemon-like tint,

8 The glass represented in plate 8, h The lower lights of the side windows
must be classed as early Decorated, — of the chancel of Norbury church, Derby-
though taken by itself it presents none shire, are each thirty inches wide ; the
but Early English features, — for the central light of the east window is forty-
Decorated foliage occurs in other parts of four inches wide, the two adjacent lights
the same window. The arms are those of being each thirty-four, and the two outer
Margaret of France, the second queen of lights thirty-one inches wide.
Edward I. In plate 10, it will be observed For these measurements I am indebted
that the Decorated foliage is introduced to my friend the Rev. H. T. Ellacombe.
in the outermost border of the light.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

from the more intense and golden pot-metal yellows, to
which it affords an agreeable contrast. In many instances,
however, especially during the latter part of the reign of
Edward III., the stained yellow is almost as deep as the
pot-metal yellow. Its facility of application soon brought
it into general use l. By its means the former coldness of
white pattern windows was speedily corrected, and artists
soon discovered in the richness and power of the stain an
efficient substitute for many of the pot-metal colours. Thus
a broader and less mosaic style of colouring was gradually
introduced, white and yellow glass entering more largely
into the composition of coloured designs. The presence of
so much yellow had also the effect of imparting to the later
Decorated glass paintings a gay and lively appearance.

The arrangements of this period are very various, in
regard both to individual windows, and their general dis-
position in a building.

The most common windows are those which are either
wholly composed of white patterns, or of an intermixture of
white patterns and coloured pictures.

A white pattern window generally has a coloured border to
each of its lower lights, which sometimes returns along the
bottom of the window. The patterns until the end of the
reign of Edward I., are in general hardly distinguishable from
the Early English • like them they are principally composed
of white glass, and consist of scroll-works of foliage confined
within panels, or of ornamented quarries, resembling the
Early English in form and character. The drawing, how-
ever, is generally slighter than the Early English, and the
ground of the pattern is rarely cross-hatched \ After this
time, and even a little before it, the patterns consist either

1 The yellow stain is represented in amongst the Perpendicular examples,
plates 14, 47, and 55, which last plate, k See plates 8 and 10. See also
by a mistake of mine, has been placed cut 10.

THE DECORATED STYLE. 65

of flowing tendril-like scrollages, bearing natural leaves,
and overlaid by a geometrical network of bands and fillets,
which however does not confine the ramifications of the
foliage 1 : or else of ornamented quarries. The earlier pat-
terns are often enriched by the introduction of some colour
into the bands and fillets, and by a few little coloured orna-
ments inserted in them at distant intervals ; the later, prin-
cipally by staining certain portions of the white glass yellow.

When the lower lights are much enriched with colour,
the tracery lights are sometimes filled with coloured pic-
tures, or ornaments : but they more commonly contain a
white pattern, enriched with colour to a similar extent as
that in the lower lights. In the earlier windows it is not
unusual to find the pattern in the tracery lights Early
English in character, while that in the lower lights is of
pure Decorated character m.

A single shield of arms, near the top of each of the
lower lights, is often the only extraneous subject intro-
duced into pattern windows. The most ordinary mode of
introducing pictures into them, is by inserting, in the middle
of each of the lower lights, a low-crowned canopy, covering
a figure, or a group of figures ; which produces the general
effect of a belt of colour running across the window. Some-
times, when the length of the lights admits of it, two such
belts of canopies are introduced, leaving considerable por-
tions of the white patterns displayed between, above, and
below them. A shield of arms enclosed in a panel, or
small coloured ornament, usually occupies the centre of

1 See plate 11. See also Lysons' LXXXVIII, L, XCII. A pattern from

"Derbyshire," p. 221, where an engrav- the same place is engraved in Shaw's

ing is given of three Decorated patterns " Encyclopaedia of Ornament."
from the chancel of Norbury church, m See for instance, a plate (rather m-

Derbyshire. See also engravings of some correct in its details) of part of the south

of the patterns from the chapter-house, window of the chancel of Trumpington

York, in Browne's " Hist, of the Metro- church, in Lysons' " Cambridgeshire,"

politan Church of St. Peter, York," p. 38.
plates LXXIX, LXXXIII, LXXXV,

THE DECORATED STYLE.

each of these intervals. The head of the window, when
two or more belts of canopies cross the lower lights, is in
general filled with coloured subjects, in order to preserve
the balance of colour ; but it is oftener filled with a white
pattern, when only one belt of canopies traverses the lower
lights.

Another, but by no means so common a mode of intro-
ducing pictures, — the practice being mostly confined to
early examples, — consists in the insertion at regular inter-
vals in each of the lower lights, of panels containing
coloured pictures ; the ground of the lights being a white
pattern.

There are numerous modifications and varieties of each
of the above-mentioned arrangements.

Some early Decorated windows have the whole of their
lower lights entirely filled with simple panels containing
pictures 11 ; others, at all periods of the style, with a series
of small canopies with single figures, or groups of figures
beneath them, piled up closely one above the other:
coloured subjects in either case being placed in the tracery
lights. The specimens of the first arrangement, and the
earlier examples of the last, closely resemble the Early
English medallion windows, in depth of colour and general
effect : but in the later instances of the last arrangement, the
masses of deep colour are separated by the heads of the
canopies, which being principally composed of white and
yellow glass, impart a general lightness to the whole design.

Figure and canopy windows0 are not in general met with
in this country before the middle of the style. In small
windows, the whole of each of the lower lights is some-
times filled up with the subject; but the canopy usually

" See an example, " Monographie de canopy window, Lysons' " Gloucester-
la Catbedrale de Bourges," Etude XIV. shire," plate LXVI.
0 See an engraving of a figure and

THE DECORATED STYLE. 67

does not reach quite down to the bottom of the light, leav-
ing a space beneath, which is filled either by a small pic-
ture, or a patterns This is especially the case with votive
windows, the portraits of the donor and his family occupy-
ing the space below the principal figure q. In some in-
stances, several panels containing coloured pictures are
placed one above the other and inserted beneath the base of
the large canopy. Other windows have each of their lower
lights quite filled up with alternate tiers of canopies con-
taining large figures, and panels containing small subjects,
placed one above the other. The tracery lights of the
above-mentioned windows are generally filled with coloured
pictures.

The effect of a Decorated figure and canopy window,
though very rich, is on the whole lighter than that of an
Early English one. The canopy resembles in form those
in the architecture and sculpture of the timer. It is tall
in proportion to the figure it covers. In general many of
its members are variously coloured, but white and yellow
glass, both stained and pot-metal, are chiefly employed,
especially in the spires and crockets.

The principle of extending the same design (not being
a Jesse) into all or several of the lower lights of a window,
which was so commonly done in the succeeding style, was
introduced on the continent very early in this style.

The usual mode of carrying it into execution, is by placing
at the bottom of the lower lights a grand architectural
composition, consisting of a large canopy in the centre,

p Some of the patterns at the bottom r See plate 12. See also Lysons'
of the lower lights of the east window, " Gloucestershire," plate LXVI. A re-
York minster, are engraved in Weale's presentation of one of these figures, and
" Quarterly Papers," vol. i. plates 7, 8, part of one of the canopies, is given in
and 9. Shaw's " Dresses and Decorations of the

i See a plate of some glass in the east middle ages," vol. i. See also Lasteyrie,

window of Beer Ferrers church, Devon, " Hist, de la Peinture sur verre," plates

in Lysons' " Devonshire." XXXVIII, XL, and XLIII.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

(often extending into two or three lights,) flanked by
smaller ones, in the manner of a triptic. The principal
subject is represented under the central canopy, and other
subjects, in general accessory to it, under the side canopies.
The spires of the canopies, backed with a coloured ground,
reach some way up the lower lights : a white pattern is
usually shewn above them, and the head of the window
is filled with coloured ornaments to balance the mass of
colour below.

In some cases two tiers of canopies are thus introduced,
the upper ones only terminating in spires.

In this manner8 designs are represented on a superior
scale to that permitted by the usual method. In England
the same design is often spread over the whole of the
tracery lights of a window; and it is probable that ex-
amples may be found of a similar arrangement in respect
of the lower lights.

Jesse windows. In these windows are displayed some
of the most beautiful designs of this period. The lower
lights are usually surrounded with a border, and filled
with a series of oval panels, formed by the branches of a
vine. Each panel contains a figure on a coloured ground,
usually of a different colour to the ground outside the panel,
upon which outer ground the side leaves and branches of
the vine are spread. The same principle of decoration
usually extends to the tracery lights ; the most important
of which contain figures, or heads, within detached oval
or circular panels, formed by a vine-branch, the leaves of
which are turned outwards'.

5 A more decided instance of the
adoption of a design not conforming to
the architectural divisions of the window,
is furnished by those foreign windows
in whose lower lights are placed large
circular panels, extending into more
than one light, and containing one large

picture, which is cut most completely
by the mullions of the window. Ex-
amples of this arrangement may be seen
at St. Thomas's church, Strasburg, and
in the south aisle of the nave of Munich
cathedral &c.

1 See a general representation of a

THE DECORATED STYLE.

Wlieel windows. The great defect of the wheel windows
in this style is a spottiness and want of breadth of
colour, arising from the practice of ornamenting each
tracery light with a separate pattern, in general sur-
rounded with a border, which insulates it from the other
patterns. This defect is less observable in those foreign
windows in which the colour is chiefly disposed in and
about the centre and circumference of the circle, the inter-
mediate space being left nearly white. A small picture
sometimes occupies the centre or eye of the window, some-
times even this is filled with a pattern, or heraldry11.
The eye of the wheel in the tracery of the east window
of Merton chapel, Oxford, is filled with coats of arms, and
other ornaments, on a coloured ground; and the , radiating
lights principally with diverging scrolls of foliage, also on
a coloured ground. This circle has somewhat the appear-
ance of a star.

In the works of this period may be perceived, though
perhaps not so distinctly as in those of the last, a certain
selection of particular kinds of windows for particular
situations. Thus figure and canopy windows are more
frequently to be met with at the extremities of a building,
and in lofty situations, than in other positions : while pattern
windows, with belts of canopies or panels in them, are
generally reserved for the side windows of aisles &c. But
there is no positive rule on the subject j the former descrip-
tion of windows being often found in the sides of a building,
and the latter in the clearstory.

There appears also to be no positive rule for the relative
disposition of coloured and white windows.

In some buildings, the whole of the windows are corn-

rather late Decorated Jesse, Lysons'
" Gloucestershire," plate XCIII. De-
tails on a larger scale are given in plate
XCIV. of the same work.

u See a smallDecorated wheel window,
Lasteyrie, " Histoire de la Peinture sur
verre," plate XLV.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

posed of white patterns, enriched merely by the insertion
into them of shields of arms, or panels containing pictures ;
in others, the east window alone presents a mass of colour j
in others, the east and west windows are wholly filled with
coloured designs, the colour in the side windows being con-
fined to their belts of canopies j whilst in others, all the
windows are completely filled with coloured pictures.

The abrupt alternation of masses of variegated colouring,
with masses of, comparatively speaking, white glass, seems
to have been a favourite practice throughout this period.
It is strongly exemplified in pattern windows with belts
of canopies crossing them ; and in those foreign windows
which have their heads of tracery full of colour, and the
bottom parts of all their lower lights occupied with one
general design richly coloured.

The remains of the glass of this period are perhaps more
numerous than those of any other. I have scarcely ever
entered a church without observing in it some fragments,
at least, of Decorated glass.

An excellent example of a general arrangement in this
style is afforded by the nave and its aisles of York minster.

The great west window, and the west windows of the
aisles, severally present to the eye one mass of colour, a
good deal qualified however with yellow and white glass.
Three tiers of figures and canopies, placed closely together,
one above the other, occupy all but a small portion at the
bottom of the lower lights of the west window of the nave,
which portion is filled with patterns much enriched with
colour. The tracery head of the window is principally
filled with coloured ornaments. The lower lights of each
of the west windows of the aisles contain a figure and
canopy apiece, — that in the central light has a small panel
beneath, (in either case a modern restoration,) containing a
picture executed in colours, — and their tracery lights are

THE DECORATED STYLE.

filled with coloured pictures. All the side windows of the
aisles, with the exception of two on the south side, viz.,
a Jesse window, and a window exhibiting, amongst other
designs, three large figures and canopies, have their lower
lights crossed with two belts of richly coloured canopies
and subjects, an interval of white pattern being left
between ; and their tracery lights filled with coloured
pictures and ornaments. The clearstory windows are of
similar character; coloured ornaments filling their heads,
and two belts of panels, containing coloured pictures,
crossing their lower lights, the remaining parts of which
are occupied with a white pattern. The glass in the nave
and aisles of Strasburg cathedral, especially that in the
lower windows, resembles Early English work in effect j it
is however very early Decorated. The colouring in all the
windows is stiff and mosaic, but the upper windows are
somewhat lighter in appearance than the lower, more white
and yellow glass being introduced into them. The sidex
and west windows of the south aisle, and the west and
adjacent side window of the north aisle, have their lower
lights entirely filled with a series of canopies or panels
containing coloured pictures \ and their tracery heads with
coloured pictures and ornaments. These windows are quite
dark with colour, and as mosaic as an Early English medal-
lion window. The remaining side windows of the north
aisley, and also the windows of the entire clearstory, and
those of the north side of the triforium, are figure and
canopy windows. The clearstory windows, with one excep-
tion, contain in each of their lower lights two figures and
canopies one above the other. The triforium windows
on the south side are filled with coloured patterns. The

x One of these windows is engraved i A lower light of one of these windows
in the " Monographie de la Cathe'drale is represented in Lasteyrie's " Histoire de
de Bourges," Etude XIV. la Peinture sur verre," plate XL.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

great rose window is a beautiful star, richly coloured, with
a considerable interval of white glass between its centre
and circumference.

The windows of the choir of Cologne cathedral are
altogether as light as those of the nave of Strasburg are
dark.

The choir is surrounded with seven chapels, each lighted
by three lofty windows. The central window of the eastern
chapel is a mass of colour ; its subject being a very singular
Jesse2. The tracery lights, and lower part of the lower lights
of the two side windows of this chapel, are respectively
filled with richly coloured patterns and pictures, the long
intervening space being filled with a white pattern. All the
windows of the other chapels are of similar character to the
two last described, except that the pattern of the central
window of each chapel is rather more enriched with colour
than that of the side windows.

The heads of the clearstory windows are full of colour,
and a row of canopies richly coloured occupies nearly the
whole of the lower half of their lower lights. The inter-
mediate space is filled with a white pattern, except in the
east window, where it is richly coloured. All the windows
of the triforium are filled with white patterns, except those
below the east window, which have coloured patterns.
Thus, in this instance, the chief masses of colour are con-
fined to the windows at the extremities of the clearstory
and choir aisle.

The chancel of Merton chapel, Oxford, affords an early
and good example of the general arrangement of the glass
in a small building.

The original glass still remains in the tracery of the east
window, and presents a mass of colouring as deep and

z A description of this window is given in the " Monographic de la Cathedrale de

Bourges:"

THE DECORATED STYLE.

almost as mosaic as that of an Early English medallion
window. In all probability its lower lights originally were
equally replete with coloura. White pattern windows, with
a single belt of canopies running across their lower lights,
occupy the sides of this building.

The chancel of Norbury church, Derbyshire, is another
early specimen.

The side windows are all filled with white patterns, with
a shield of arms inserted near the top of each of the lower
lightsb, and it may be presumed, from the fragments that
remain, that this was likewise the arrangement of the east
window.

The glass in the chapter-house, at York, is also of early
date, belonging to the reign of Edward II. All the
windows are filled with white patterns, in which panels
containing pictures are inserted.

Amongst other valuable examples may be mentioned
Stanford church, Northamptonshire, of the time of Edward
III. ; the chancel of Chartham church, Kent, of the close of
the reign of Edward II. 3 Lincoln and Hereford cathedrals ;
the clearstory windows of the apse of Tewkesbury abbey
church; St. Ouen's church at Rouen; Freyburg minster
in Germany, &c. The superb east window of the choir of
Gloucester cathedral, though the architecture is itself Per-
pendicular, may be cited as a pure Decorated example, late

a They are now filled with a glass
painting by Price, executed in 1702.
[Dallaway's Observations on English
Architecture, p. 281.] This does not
harmonize with the glass in the tracery
lights, yet I should be sorry to see a
modern antique substituted for it.

t> All the side windows of Norbury
chancel have been engraved in Nos. 1
and 2 of "the Ecclesiastical Architec-
ture of Great Britain from the Conquest
to the Reformation, London, by Messrs.
Bowman and Hadfield, Architects." It
would be presumptuous in me to assign
a date to the chancel itself, but I am

quite certain that the glass in these win-
dows is of the first, or early in the second
quarter of the fourteenth century. The
only window which retains more than the
mere border of the original pattern-work
of its tracery lights, is the second, counting
from the westwar d, on the north side of the
chancel. The pattern is of white glass
covered with Decorated scroll works.
The tracery patterns in the heads of
the other windows, (which have been
engraved by Messrs. Bowman and Had-
field,) are, with the exception of their
borders, mere modern inventions.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

in the style however. The arrangement of the glass in this
window is original, and deserves attention. The same
principle, — that of filling the upper part of the window
with white ornamented quarries, and the lower part with
figures and canopies, &c. — was carried out in the side
clearstory windows of the choir; as sufficiently appears
from the fragments which remain in the northern windows.

The following are some of the most remarkable pecu-
liarities in detail which have not been noticed in the
course of the foregoing remarks. A more extensive and
minute examination of these matters will conclude this
section.

The figures exactly resemble those in the illuminations
and sculpture of this period ; they are severe in drawing,
but more refined than the Early English, and their drape-
ries are likewise broader, more ample, and flowing. The
figures are often placed in very forced and extravagant
attitudes. A gradual but sensible diminution in the thick-
ness of the outline took place as the style advanced.

White glass is quite as much used as flesh-coloured, in the
naked parts of the figures. The hair is often stained yellow.

The canopies almost invariably have flat fronts, straight-
sided gables over the main archway, and in general high
spires and pinnacles. Their details correspond with those
of the canopies on the seals and tombs, and in the archi-
tecture of the time. Much pot-metal colour enters into
their composition, to which the richness of their appearance
is owing. In many instances the smaller members, as
shafts, capitals, spires, &c, are capriciously coloured, red,
blue, green, &c. ; and when the canopy consists of white
and yellow glass only, a considerable portion of the yellow
used is pot-metal.

The white glass, in the earliest examples, is in general
of the same texture and rich tint as the Early English, but

THE DECORATED STYLE. 75

it gradually became greener, fainter in colour, and thinner
in substance. The blue also became lighter, and the red
less streaky and uneven towards the close of the style.
The pot-metal yellow is rich, deep, and golden, frequently
inclining to a rich greenish brown hue.

The flesh-coloured glass is sometimes of a more decided
pink tint than the Early English, but it is in general
lighter, and more yellow.

Heraldic achievements were frequently introduced into
the borders of windows, as well as upon shields ; the latter
are always of the heater formc, and are unaccompanied with
mantlings, crests, &c.

I shall now proceed to a minute examination of the
details of Decorated glass paintings under the following
separate heads.

1. Texture and colour of the glass.

There is no apparent difference between the glass of the
latter part of the last, and the early part of the present
period, either in texture or colour. It preserved its rich-
ness of tone until the end of the style, but gradually
became less substantial in its appearance.

The early Decorated ruby is as streaky and uneven
in tint as the Early English; but, as the style advanced,
the streakiness diminished, as well as the thickness of the
colouring matter on the sheet; a proof of which last circum-
stance is afforded by cut 1, given in a note to the intro-
duction. At the end of the Decorated period ruby glass
is sometimes found almost quite evenly coloured.

The deep blue glass gradually became lighter. The
green generally used is warm and rich, but a cold green,
like that of an emerald, may be remarked in many works
at all periods of the style.

c See plates 8 and 13.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

The white glass, in general, during this period, is of
a fine rich sea-green colour. It gradually became lighter
in tint towards the close of the style, at which time it
varied exceedingly in thickness. Some of the later glass
is strongly tinged with yellow; but variations from a
yellow to a blue-green, and from a blue to a yellow-green,
may be remarked in the white glass throughout the style.
White glass of a cold blue tint, by no means strong in
colour, may even be met with in some of the earliest Deco-
rated glass paintings; but this is an exception to the
general rule, that the earliest white glass is more strongly
tinted with green than the later white glass.

Decorated white glass always appears to have been very
susceptible of the yellow stain, which, when exposed to
a sufficient heat, acted with great power, changing the
white glass to a fine deep rich yellow, varying from lemon
to orange. This is particularly the case when the white
glass itself is of a yellow hue. In some instances indeed,
the yellow produced by staining is of a cold greenish tint,
arising sometimes from some accidental variation in the
quality of the glass, but more frequently, as I presume, from
the slackness of the, furnace. The glass painters of this
period in general subjected their glass to a very consider-
able degree of heat, as is evident from the frequent oxida-
tion of the metal composing the stain, and the consequent
redness of the colour. Towards the middle of the style the
yellow stain was occasionally applied to light blue pot-metal
glass, which it changed to a bluish yellowd.

The pot-metal yellow glass is in general of a fine deep
golden hue, frequently approaching a rich greenish brown.
The lightest pot-metal yellow is less green in its tint than
the lightest stained yellow, and the deepest pot-metal yellow

J<5% in,st3?ces1 takf /r0.™ the flass quities of Westminster," in the 2nd plate,
of St. Stephen's chapel, Smith's " Anti- facing p. 232.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

is less orange than the deepest stained yellow. Beautiful
contrasts of colour are produced, by the employment of pot-
metal, and stained yellow, in the same glass painting.

Flesh-coloured glass continued to be used throughout
this style in heads, and naked figures : though by no means
so extensively as during the preceding style, white glass
being frequently substituted for it. It is usually paler, and
more yellow, than the Early English flesh-colour; when
stronger, it more nearly approaches a direct pink.

2. Mode of execution.

In the glass paintings of this period, as in those of the
last, shadow is, to a considerable extent, as well as form,
expressed by dark outlines. These outlines are, however,
in general, not so thick, or so frequent, as in Early English
glass paintings.

Most Decorated glass paintings, especially the earlier
ones, exhibit a peculiar freedom of touch, and firmness
and precision of handling, which, together with the ready
flow of the colour, the transparency and fulness of the out-
line, and the great expression conveyed by it, cause them in
some measure to resemble, in their execution, the paintings
on an ancient Etruscan, or Greek vase.

The practice of putting a cross-hatched ground on white
glass, for the purpose of bringing out more prominently a
pattern delineated on it, so common during the last period,
was soon abandoned in this ; but cross-hatching continued
to be used in small ornaments until the end of the style.

Shading, when resorted to, was always executed accord-
ing to the smear method. The smear shadows in the
draperies of large figures, at all periods of the style, often
attained a very considerable depth, the colour being laid on
so thickly as almost to occasion opacity in the darker parts
of the shadows.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

Diapers were profusely used for decorative purposes,
their smear ground being applied to either side of the glass
as convenience dictated6.

3. Figures.

A very considerable advance in the art of representing
the human figure took place during this period.

Its proportions are better preserved than in the former
style, the figures in general not being too tall, or slender.

The draperies are likewise treated in a broader, more
easy, and natural manner.

The technical incompletenesss of the drawing is much
more felt in the hands, feet, and other naked parts of the
body, than in the heads, many of which are very finely
treated.

An easy and graceful attitude is given to the stand-
ing figures, by slightly swaying the body backwards, and
resting its weight on one leg, somewhat after the manner
of the antiques but this position was often exaggerated to
an absurd degree, the figures, in consequence, frequently
seeming as if they were in motion, when, according to the
nature of the subject, they ought to appear at rest.

The earlier heads of this period, though more delicate
and refined than those of the last, do not lose any of their
force, or vigour of character. The features still continued
to be strongly outlined, but in general a more varied and
natural expression was imparted to the eye and eyebrow.
The latter is sometimes however too apt to resemble a pent-
house, in the angularity of its form. In the Decorated, as
in the Early English heads, there is seldom any attempt

e See specimens of diapering, plates
12 and 13. See also Smith's Antiquities
of Westminster, plate facing p. 232, in
which are represented, with praiseworthy
accuracy, the little particles of ground

which the glass painter omitted to re-
move, or clean off, when scraping out
the pattern.

f See plates 12 and H.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

made to distinguish the iris of the eye from the pupil, the
whole being in general represented by one black dot.

The mouth, which is small in the majority of instances,
closely resembles the Early English model ; sometimes how-
ever, towards the middle of the style, the upper and lower
lips are represented.

Cut G.

iullingstone Church, Kent.

The hair and beard are generally drawn in flowing locks,
boldly expressed by the varying thickness of the outline.

The general contour of the face is a well-proportioned oval;
and the chin is smaller than in the Early English examples.

Towards the close of this period, however, there is often
less character, and more conventionalism in the heads.

80 THE DECORATED STYLE.

The eye-brows become more uniformly arched, and, to-
gether with the nose and mouth, less strongly marked.
The countenance also loses much of its agreeable form, the
forehead being flat, broad, and somewhat projecting; too
great prominence is likewise given to the cheek bones, and
too great width to the face in proportion to its breadth.
The chin is also often represented too small and pointed g.

The heads and naked parts of the figures are often com-
posed of the flesh-coloured glass before mentioned11, but
white glass is as generally used for this purpose, in which
case the hair and beard are frequently stained yellow1. This
is however seldom the case when flesh-coloured glass is
employed. In the larger figures, the beards and hair are
often of a different colour to the countenances, being made
of blue, yellow, green glass, &c, leaded in.

In the earlier specimens, the hair is often entirely covered
with a thin wash of brown paint, and the face and other
parts of the figure are shaded exactly as in the former style.
A practice of taking out lights in the ground covering the
hair, to increase the prominency of some of the locks, was
however soon introduced1". Many figures at all periods
of the style were executed in outline only, and not shaded
at all1.

The draperies of this period are much more flowing and
ample than those of the last : and in ecclesiastical and
female figures the robe is generally long, and envelopes
the feet.

g Cut 6 (see last page) is from an early others. While the subject of plate 51
example of the fourteenth century. In (which is again represented in plate 14)
character it strongly resembles an Early is of the close of the Decorated period.
English head. The heads in plates 9, 37, See some fragments of heads, the full
40, and 43, are all of the early part of the size, from St. Stephen's chapel, West-
fourteenth century, and are thoroughly minster, Smith's "Antiquities of West-
Decorated in character. Plates 49, 12, minster," in the last of the three plates
47 and 55, (the latter of which has by facing page 232.
mistake been lettered "Perpendicular,") h See plates 37, 43, 49.
are taken from specimens of the middle 1 See plates 14, 47.
part of the fourteenth century, the first k See plate 49.
example being rather earlier than the two 1 See plates 37, 43.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

Saints are usually habited in a long robe confined round
the waist with a girdle, and a loose cloak, the broad elegant
folds of which add greatly to the grace and dignity of the
figure. A jewelled band or stripe of colour, differing in
tint from that of the rest of the robe, sometimes crosses
it horizontally. The name of the individual represented
is often written round the edge of the nimbus. The hair
of female saints is generally disposed in long and smooth
locks, and the hair and beards of prophets and saints in
fine wavy locks, while angels are generally represented with
their hair in short thick curls. The heads of prophets are
commonly covered with a sort of bonnet or cap, and are
not surrounded with a nimbus. The figures frequently
hold scrolls in their hands bearing inscriptions.

The mitre still continues of a triangular form, and its
ornaments are simple, but the crook of the staff is often
of elaborate workmanship, and frequently composed of a
beautiful scroll of leaves.

The secular female costume usually consists of a garment
fitting tightly to the arms and body, and having a wide
long skirt training on the ground. Upon it are sometimes
depicted the armorial bearings of the wearer. A cloak
or mantle is often loosely thrown over it. The wimple is
a frequent adjunct to the head-dress, and the hair is usually
plaited down on each side of the face, and enclosed in
a net, or caul.

The ordinary costume of dignified laymen consists of
a long robe and loose cloak ; the hair and beard being
arranged in fine loose wavy locks. The heads of boys are
generally covered with short thick curls.. The usual secular
dress is a close short jerkin, or tunic, reaching about half
way down the thighs, and tight hose and shoes ; upon
which model the armour of this period was formed. The
military dress, in the earlier examples, consists of the

THE DECORATED STYLE.

hauberk and chausses of mail, or of gamboised armour;
in the later, of a mixture of plate and mail; and in the
latest, of plate only. Armorial bearings are generally repre-
sented on the surcoat and shield, and knights mounted and
accoutred for the tournament, wearing the heaume and its
crest, were occasionally depicted on glass during this period.

4. FOLIAGE.

The general character of the foliage, properly belonging

Cut 8.

Dorchester Church, Oxfordshire

Soutbfleet Church, Ksnt

THE DECORATED STYLE.

to this style, is natural, and it is easy to recognise amongst
it the leaves of the maple, oak, ivy, hawthorn, and of

Cut 9.

Stanford Church, Northamptonshire.

many wild plants m. The flower usually represented is the
rose. The earliest specimens of it are formed of the scal-

'" See plates 11, 12, and 13. Cut 7
is taken from an example early in the
fourteenth century, as are plates 38, 39,

41, and 44 ; plates 50, and 53 A, and
cuts 8 and 9, are from examples of the
middle of the fourteenth century.

04 THE DECORATED STYLE.

loped ornament", but towards the middle of this period
it becomes five-leaved, and, when single, almost exactly
resembles a full-blown eglantine or common dog-rose°;
its leaves are very rarely lipped, or turned over at their
extremities. It is however frequently double-leaved, and
occasionally treble, or quadruple. When only double, and
painted on white glass, the seeds and outer row of leaves
are usually stained yellowp.

The more conventional ornaments composing the archi-
tectural details, the finials and crockets of canopies, &c,
are likewise taken from foliage, and drawn in a spirited,
lively manner*1.

Scroll-works are formed of the twining tendrils of
plants, from which spring, it must be admitted, without
much regard to nature, the leaves of either plants or trees,
as the case may ber. When represented on a coloured
ground, the tendril preserves an uniform colour3, though
its leaves are sometimes variegated.

The new method of drawing foliage did not at once
supersede the old, and accordingly the Early English
character of ornament is frequently preserved, especially in
scroll-works, and ornaments represented on white glass,
until the end of the first, and during the early part of the
second quarter of the fourteenth century. The old orna-
ment is however, in general, drawn slighter than during
the preceding style*, and the ground on which it is de-
lineated is seldom cross-hatched. It is moreover almost
always found in conjunction with Decorated ornaments11.

n See plate 42, and cut 15. u See plate 10. A part of the inner

0 See plate 14. border of this window is represented the
p See plate 15. full size in cut 10. This glass is, I think,

1 See plates 12 and 53. of the early part of the second quarter of
r See plate 11. the fourteenth century. Plate 44 repre-
s See an engraving in Fowler's "Mo- sents, at the full size, part of a scroll-

saic Pavements and Stained Glass," work in another of the chancel windows
from an example at Ch. Ch. Oxford. of Chartham, which is of the same date

* See cut 10, in the opposite page. as that represented in plate 10.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

In some of the earlier
specimens may be seen
the very change from
the conventionality of
the Early English foli-
age, to the more natu-
ral character of the
Decorated v.

Throughout this pe-
riod the leaves are al-
ways drawn with great
firmness and precision.
The thickness of the
line in outlined pat-
terns on white glass,
diminished consider-
ably towards the close
of the style.

The beaded orna-
ment, of the former
period, is to be met
with in the early works
of this style, in gene-
ral, however, accom-
panied with a narrow
border or edging on
each side. A practice
was, however, soon in-
troduced of placing the

beads further apart, and inserting a couple of small
between each pair y. Two little rings often supply the

Cbarfliam Church, Kent.

dots
place

v See plate 7. Another tracery light
of the same date, and in the same church,
has its foils ornamented with an ordi-
nary maple-leaf.

x See for instance plate 44.
y The subject of cut 11 is of the latter
part of the fourteenth century.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

Westonbirt Church, Gloucestershire.

of the dots, and sometimes a larger ring is substituted for
the large bead. The scalloped ornament, and its combina-
tions, seem to have gradually gone out
of fashion towards the middle of this
period, about which time a singular
kind of decoration was introduced,
which may be called the cross ornament :
a representation of it is given in the
margin. It was formed by cross-hatch-
ing a piece of glass with thick lines,
and afterwards cutting them asunder
with a stick, or other pointed instrument,
capable of removing the brown enamel
colour from the glass before it was
burnt. This ornament continued in use
to the end of the style.

5. Borders.

Borders, both to lower and tracery
lights, are throughout this period seldom
dispensed with.

The ordinary border of a lower light
is formed of a stalk running up the
sides of the light, either in a serpentine
direction, or straight, from which spring-
leaves, acorns, &c, at regular distances.
The stalk, which is sometimes orna- cross ornament.
mented with a pattern, is frequently of ^^llZ^^'

THE DECORATED STYLE.

Cut 13.

one colour, and its
leaves of another : and
the border generally has
a coloured ground2.

Sometimes the bor-
der consists of a series
of grotesque animals,
either placed at short
distances apart, with a
piece of coloured glass
between them3, or else
they are introduced
climbing up a stem
of foliage, or sitting
amongst its leaves ; the
entire border in this
case being represented
on a coloured ground.

There is a window
in the nave of York
minster which has, in
its lower lights, a series
of small figures and
canopies, by way of
border.

Heraldic borders are
very common at all
periods of the style. They consist either of coats of arms
properly emblazoned, and arranged in rectangular patches
one above the other ; or of badges, merchants' marks, or

Stanford Church, Northamptonshire.

z See plates 10, 11, and 12.

a See plate 52. In this example the
fish is white, and the border round it
stained yellow. It is of the latter part
of the pecorated period. The nonde-

script engraved in cut 13, forms part oi
such a border as is described in the text.
It is of the middle part of the fourteenth
century.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

other devices, separated from each other with pieces of
coloured glass. All these borders are often edged on one
or both sides with a narrow strip of coloured glass, or with
the beaded ornament, &c.b

Some borders, in general late in the style, are composed
of white and yellow ornaments, of rectangular shape,
placed, like the grotesque animals first mentioned, at in-
tervals up the sides of the window, with coloured glass
between them ; sometimes two or three of the upper foils
of the cuspidated head of the light are filled with lions'
heads, or roses6.

The border is almost universally separated from the
stone-work by a margin of plain white glass, which in many
of the earlier examples is an inch broad.

The width of the border, including the white margin, is
usually one-sixth of the entire width of the light : but there
are a few rare instances of small narrow windows whose
only border consists of a strip of white glass.

A border is sometimes carried along the bottom of the
light ; in which case its pattern frequently differs from that
of the border at the sides'1.

Cut 14.

Houthfleet Churcb, Kent.

b See a specimen of an heraldic border, is quite of the close of the Decorated

Lasteyrie, " Histoire de la Peinture sur period,
verre," plate XXIV. <i See plate 11.

c As in plate 15, No. 1. This specimen

THE DECORATED STYLE. 89

The ordinary border of a tracery light, is either a plain
margin of white glass, or the beaded ornament, which is
usually stained yellow, and always separated from the
stone-work by a white edging. When the light is large,
a broader kind of border is often used, formed of roses,
quatrefoils, or other ornaments, in little squares, and sepa-
rated from each other by pieces of plain coloured glass.
This border has a narrow edge of white glass between
it and the stone-work.

6. Patterns.

These are composed sometimes of ornamented quarries
of white glass, upon each of which is repeated the same

Cut 15.

Selling Church, Kent.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

leaf or pattern, represented in the earlier examples merely
in outline6, but in the later, often wholly or partially stained
yellow. Sometimes a running foliaged scroll-work is carried
over the quarries. The quarries are frequently banded on
their two upper sides, and the bands are occasionally smear-
shaded. A quarry pattern is frequently enlivened by the
insertion at regular intervals in the centre of the light, of
small circular panels containing heads, small coats of arms,
or other ornaments executed in colours, or in white and
yellow stained glass. Coloured stars with wavy rays, are
sometimes, in like manner, leaded in amongst the quarries ;
especially in late Decorated work.

The more common Decorated pattern, however, consists
of a number of narrow fillets and bands, some coloured,
some ornamented, but for the most part plain and white,
disposed in the form of lozenges, ovals, quatrefoils, and
other geometrical figures ; or even simply reticulated, and
curiously interwoven with each other. Behind this net-
work, and occasionally entwined with it, are spread running
scrolls of foliage, outlined on white glass, and usually
branching off from a main stalk which runs straight up
the centre of the window. The leads follow the course
of the bands, and form an essential part of the pattern,
which is generally further enriched by the insertion, at
regular distances, of little coloured panels, containing
heads, small shields of arms, patterns composed of leaves,
and other devices, or occasionally a sacred emblem, as the
double trianglef. In the later examples the yellow stain

« Cut 15 represents a quarry of the and close of the style,
early part of the fourteenth century, it is f See plate 11. See also the other plates

from the same window as the subject of referred to in a former note (1, p. 65.)

plate 8. The quarries in plates 39 and The lion's head represented in plate 46

45 are also of the early part of the four- originally formed the central ornament

teenth century. None of these quarries of a pattern. It is of dark green glass,

are stained. Plates 14 and 15 represent and is of the middle of the fourteenth

specimens of quarries of the latter part, century.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

is often applied to the leaves and acorns of the scroll-
work, &c. : sometimes the foliaged scroll-work is rendered
more conspicuous by being smear-shaded.

The patterns in clearstory windows, when the height
would prevent more minute work being seen, are some-
times formed of plain pieces of white and coloured glass
leaded together. These patterns resemble in their general
effect those which have been already described. The
ground-work of the lower lights is composed of plain white
glass, cut into various geometrical forms, the complicated
character of which serves as an equivalent for a painted
pattern. The tracery lights of windows of this descrip-
tion, are often surrounded with a narrow strip of plain
coloured glass by way of border, and are enriched in the
same way as tracery lights commonly are, by the insertion
of small coloured circular panels ; the only difference being
that the glass of which these circles are constructed is not
painted with any pattern. A shield, bearing a red cross
on a white field, and formed simply of plain pieces of white
and coloured glass, is inserted in the centre of one of the
tracery lights of a clearstory window on the north side of
the nave of York minster.

The Early English patterns are, as before stated, often
introduced in the earlier works in this style, with however,
in general, a certain admixture of Decorated details g.

Cross-hatched grounds, to bring out an outlined pattern
on white glass more distinctly, are by no means of common
occurrence in English work during this period.

Richly coloured ground patterns also are seldom to be
met with in English work, except in the back-grounds
of panels : the interstices between the pictures, when closely
placed, being in general filled with architectural details, or
scroll-works of foliage on coloured grounds. They usually

s See plate 10.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

consist of pieces of glass of various colours, cut into
roundels, or other geometrical shapes, having patterns
painted on them, and embedded in some general ground
colour.

The ordinary German Decorated patterns are generally
far more highly enriched with colour than the English ;
they are also bolder in design, and abound in cross-hatched
grounds on the white glass h. The French patterns more
commonly bear a closer resemblance to our own ; but the
running scroll-work, is in general more entwined with the
bands, than is usual in English work. Many minute dif-
ferences in the drawing of the leaves, &c, may also be
remarked in English, German, and French patterns.

7. Pictures.

These are represented either on panels, or under cano-
pies j or, when placed in tracery lights, on plain or orna-
mented grounds, either white or coloured. The general
treatment of the subject is similar to that described under
the former style. The design is simple in its compo-
sition, and not overcrowded with figures, and is gene-
rally represented on a stiff coloured ground, which is
usually diapered. Clouds are occasionally introduced, as
in representations of the Ascension, for instance, not as
a pictorial embellishment, but as mere stiff accessories to
the subject. Their form and colour are very conventional,
as are also the representations of animals, trees, architec-
tural details, and other like objects.

h Several German patterns from Stras-
burg are represented in the " Mono-
graphic de la Cathedrale de Bourges ;"
and a pattern from Attenberg, near Co-
logne, in Shaw's "Encyclopaedia of Or-

nament." See a French Decorated pattern
in Lasteyrie, " Hist, de la Peinture sur
verre," plate XXXI. Two patterns from
Chartres cathedral are given in Shaw's
" Encyclopaedia of Ornament."

THE DECORATED STYLE.

The panels are of various shapes, and contain, in general,
but one subject apiece. They are usually edged with a
narrow strip of white, or coloured glass, usually left plain,
but sometimes ornamented with beads, &c.

8. Canopies.

The canopy forms a very important feature in Deco-
rated glass paintings. It is extensively used to cover
groups, as well as single figures. Its form and proportions
vary exceedingly.

Some canopies, as for instance those used in tracery
lights, or those which are carried like a belt across a
window, are seldom more than twice or thrice the height
of the figure under them; whilst others, as in figure and
canopy windows, when the lower lights are long and nar-
row, are surmounted with very lofty spires, carried to a vast
height above the figure, the effect of which is sometimes
quite overpowered by the superstructure.

The details of the canopies resemble those on the seals,
the sepulchral brasses, and in the architecture of the time.
The crockets and finials of the later examples in general
possess a graceful, leaf-like character1. In the earlier
specimens they are stiff, and more resemble the Early
English.

The low-crowned canopy, so commonly used in form-
ing belts of colour across a window, is very simple in its
arrangement. It consists of an arch, either plain or cus-
pidated, (beneath which the figure is placed,) surmounted
with a flat-faced gable, which is sometimes straight-pointed,
sometimes ogee-pointed, and almost always crocketed, and
crowned with a large finial. The side pilasters from which

i See plates 12 and 53.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

the arch springs, in general run up on either side into
pinnacles \ The spire of the canopy, if it has one, gene-
rally springs from a low flat-faced tower rising from behind
the gable. The tower is usually pierced with windows,
and furnished with pinnacles, from which flying buttresses
are thrown to the spire, and the side pinnacles. The
canopy terminates abruptly at bottom without a pedestal,
and the feet of the figure rest on a piece of turf or grass,
or sometimes on a pavement, or even on a straight line
of colour, or a straight inscription. The space beneath the
main arch of the canopy does not appear like a recess. So
much of it as is not occupied by the figure, is simply filled
up with a flat coloured ground, in general richly diapered,
and no attempt is made by shading, or otherwise, to pro-
duce the effect of its being a hollow niche. Although
white, and yellow pot-metal glass usually predominate in
the canopy, many of its architectural members frequently
are otherwise coloured, pot-metal glass being much used
for the purpose, and diapers are profusely employed on the
pilasters and other flat surfaces ; a practice which imparts
to Decorated canopies a peculiarly rich and variegated
appearance.

It is not unusual to meet with spires and pinnacles formed
of green or red, or pot-metal yellow glass ; or to find the
tympanum of the principal gable, or the chief window in
the tower above it, coloured blue, green, &c. Those parts
of the canopy which are executed on white glass, are
often much enriched with the yellow stain. The head of
the canopy is generally backed with a coloured panel of

k The canopy represented in plate 12,
is one of a belt of canopies which crosses
the lower lights of a three-lighted win-
dow ; the border of the light may be seen
on either side of the canopy. The canopy
itself is executed principally in white and
yellow pot-metal glass, and is backed by a
diapered red ground. Its finials run into

the next glazing panel, and are there
embedded in a white pattern ground.
There is likewise a large space of white
pattern ground below the canopy. See
some more complicated examples, Las-
teyrie, " Hist, de la Peinture sur verre,"
plates XXXVIII. and XL III.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

colour, sometimes flat-topped, sometimes trefoil-headed.
The spires, however, occasionally run into the white pattern
work above them, without any backing of colour.

The ordinary canopies in figure and canopy windows,
differ from the canopy described only in their superior
height, and greater complication of parts, occasioned by
piling up tabernacle-work on the tower above the gable.
When a figure and canopy window consists of three lower
lights, the central canopy is often shorter than the side
ones, and elevated by being placed above a panel containing
a separate subject.

In many continental examples, the interior and groining
of the canopy are carefully represented, especially when the
canopy is of considerable size, extending into more than
one lower light. Of these, instances may be seen in the
windows of the choir of St. Sebald's church, Nuremberg,
some of which are dated 1379.

It would be a tedious and unprofitable task to enumerate
the varieties of which Decorated canopies are susceptible.
Some very excellent and early arrangements of canopies,
extending into more than one light, may be seen in some
of the aisle windows of the choir, Cologne cathedral ; in
St. Thomas' church, Strasburg ; and in a large south
window of the transept of Augsburg cathedral, restored
after the original design, in 1837. The panels of colour
which back some of these continental canopies, are of excel-
lent and varied design.

9. TRACERY LIGHTS.

The variety of designs for tracery lights in this style, is
equalled only by the variety of the shapes given to the
openings themselves.

The most common design is formed by inserting one
or more small coloured circles, or round pieces of coloured

THE DECORATED STYLE.

glass, having a rose or other pattern painted on them, in
the principal tracery lights, like insulated dots of colour,
the remainder of the lights being filled with white glass,
either plain or ornamented. The general colouring of the
tracery lights is, as before stated, regulated by that of the
rest of the window. When the lower lights are richly
coloured, the tracery lights, in general, abound with colour
likewise, and vice versa. The east window of the choir,
Gloucester cathedral, seems to afford a striking exception
to this rule ; but as the lowest tiers of lights of this window
are likewise filled with white patterns, the whole arrange-
ment may perhaps be referred to a partiality of the glass
painters of the Decorated period, for abrupt contrasts of
masses of white and coloured glass.

At the earlier periods of the style, when large cuspidated
circles were common in architecture, it was not unusual
to occupy the central space, to the points of the cuspi-
dations, (and which is generally defined by a strong iron
ring, connecting the cuspidations together,) with a circular
panel, having an ornamental border, and containing either
a coloured picture or heraldry, or even a coloured orna-
mental pattern of leaves, &c, drawn on it in outline, or
with scrolls of foliage on a coloured ground; a narrow
strip of white glass in either case separating the pattern
from the stone-work1.

The centre of the smaller cuspidated openings of the
same period, and subsequently, is often filled with a round
panel, containing a head, or coloured leaves; or is even
sometimes composed of plain pieces of coloured glass
formed into a geometrical pattern ; and the surrounding
foils are either wholly occupied with an outlined pattern
on white glass, separated from the stone-work by a
narrow strip of white glass, or are enriched by the in-

1 See plate 7-

THE DECORATED STYLE. 97

sertion of a small circular coloured panel in the centre of
each opening «»,

Occasionally the Early English scroll-work on white
glass, may be found inserted into the head of a geometrical
tracery window, the pattern being adapted to the form
of the openings.

Other tracery lights, partaking more or less of the
character of the quatrefoil, are in the earlier examples fre-
quently filled in part with a panel, or niche, containing
a figure, or even with a figure by itself, executed in colours,
the residue of the opening being covered with a white,
or variegated scroll of foliage on a coloured ground, and
furnished with a narrow edging, or border, of white glass
next the stone-workn. In the later examples, however, such
scroll-works on coloured grounds appear to have been dis-
continued, and the ground of the opening, when a figure
was introduced, was merely diapered, or quarried with
ornamented quarries0; or, in case a shield of arms was
inserted, the rest of the space between it and the border
of the light, was occupied with leaves, &c, represented by
filling in round them with black paints At all periods
of the style, however, the centre of the quatrefoil is often
found to be filled with a circular panel containing a coloured
picture, or pattern, and surrounded with white glass with
leaves, &c, in outline upon itq.

The smaller triangular-shaped, and other openings, were,
in the earlier windows, generally filled with a piece of plain

m In the eighth No. of the Archasolo- are left plain. This affords a curious

gical Journal, p. 363, is a representation instance of the manner in which a deco-

of a curious piece of panelling, in imita- ration usually supplied hy the glazing,

tion of a window of three lights, with is introduced in stone-work,

three cuspidated circles in the head, of " See an example, " Weale's Quar-

the early part of the reign of Edward I., terly Papers," part I. plate V.

which ornaments one side of the chapter- 0 See plate 14.

house of Thornton abbey, Lincolnshire. P See plate 13.

The centre of each of the lowest circles, •> See an instance, " Weale's Quarterly

up to the points of the cuspidations, is Papers," part IX. plate 2 ; and see Las-

lilled with a circle, in relief, on which is teyrie, "Hist, de la Peinture sur verre,"

carved an ornament like a star : the foils plate XLII.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

coloured glass, separated from the stone-work by a strip of
white. In the centre was often introduced a rose, or other
circular ornament, on a piece of glass of a different colour
to that forming the ground of the light. In the later
windows, such openings were more commonly ornamented
with a leaf, shewn by filling up the space round it with
black paint, or a diaper pattern 1 ; or an animal, bird, or
fish, ingeniously contrived to fill up the space, and sepa-
rated from the stone-work by a narrow edge or margin of
white glass ; or with a little coloured rose, or other round
object, surrounded either with white or yellow leaves, re-
presented in the manner before mentioned ; or, with a
diaper pattern.

In their selection of designs for the head of a window
the artists seem often to have been guided by a somewhat
capricious taste : and it is frequently difficult to discover
any connexion between the subjects represented in the
different lights ; or between them and those in the lower
lights.

Sometimes, however, one general design occupies the
whole of the tracery lights of a window, portions of it
being represented in each. The Day of Judgment is a
rather favourite subject for this situation. Christ, seated
on a throne, usually occupies the principal topmost light,
and angels, and saints, those in its immediate vicinity.
Below are represented the dead rising from their tombs, &c.
Each light generally embraces a distinct portion of the
subject, and is always bordered with a narrow strip of
white glass, which produces a very brilliant, and sparkling
appearance. The unity of the design is sometimes assisted
by an uniformity of ground colour in certain groups of
tracery lights.

Sacred emblems are far more frequently to be met with

' See plate 50.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

in the tracery, than in any other part of a window : but
they do not appear to have been very favourite subjects
during the Decorated period. When the principal tracery
light is of moderate size, it is sometimes appropriated to an
emblem, but when large, a smaller tracery light is usually
assigned for this purpose.

10. Heraldry.

The simple shield, unaccompanied with either helmet, or
mantling, was in use throughout this period : it was

Cut 16.

y m u

n 11 n

Fawkham Churco, Kent

always of the heater form, becoming, however, somewhat
longer and narrower, its sides being more nearly parallel
to each other in their upper parts, towards the end of the

100

THE DECORATED STYLE.

Cut 17.

style3. The earlier shields are often of considerable size,
and are, in general, not ornamented with diaper patterns.

They are usually inserted by themselves in the upper
part of a lower light4, or sometimes on a circular coloured
panel in the midst of a geometrical tracery light. In some
of the windows of the chapter-house at York, two shields
are thus placed in a circle, the one above the other u.

The later shields are very richly
diapered, and are generally of
smaller size, to allow of their inser-
tion into panels in the lower lights
and into the tracery lights of the
later Decorated windows, where I
they are often represented as ifl
suspended by a strap from a stem
of foliage.

Four quarterings are not unusual
even in very early shields, but the
charges are always very simple. Great Dunmow Ch™h> Esse*

The introduction of heraldic devices, merchants' marks,
&c, into the borders of windows, has been already noticed7.

11. Letters.

The letter generally used, was the Lombardic capital w,
but towards the middle of the style the black letter was

8 Compare the shield in plate 8, which
is of the early part of the fourteenth
century, with that in plate 13, which is
of the close of the Decorated period.

t See Lysons"'Derbyshire,"p.CCXXI.

u See a faint outline of this arrange-
ment, Britton's "Hist, of York Cathe-
dral," plate XXXII.

' The castle represented in cut 16,
originally formed part of a coat of arms,
argent, a cross gules charged with five
castles, or. This is evident from an en-
graving of the same window, in which it
nowis,in Thorpe's "Custumale Roffense,"
facing p. 114, in which two examples of

this coat are given. The castles are now
inserted in the border of the window, and
being separated from each other, by pieces
of plain red glass, form a very genuine-
looking heraldic border. The castle is of
the early part of (he fourteenth century.
An heraldic lion, of the middle of the
fourteenth century, is represented in plate
48. The fleur-de-lis in cut 17 is from
an example of the latter half of the four-
teenth century; it should be compared
with the fleurs-de-lis in plate 8, which are
of the commencement of the century.
w See plate 12.

THE DECORATED STYLE.

101

introduced, and employed concurrently with the Lom-
bardic.

12. Mechanical construction.

Glass paintings of this period present hardly any pecu-
liarities in this respect. The lower lights being furnished
with horizontal saddle-bars, the work is leaded together
in rectangular glazing panels, which are bound to the
saddle-bars with leaden bands. The glazing panels gene-
rally coincide in length with the principal divisions of the
subject represented ; and the leads, when not thrown into
the outline, with the course of the saddle-bars. In German
lead-work of this period, each glazing panel is often sur-
rounded with a double lead, which greatly adds to the
stability of the work, but this precaution does not appear
to have been taken by the English glaziers.

The glass of the tracery lights is likewise attached to
horizontal, or perpendicular saddle-bars, sometimes to both,
or to the circular iron rings before mentioned, when they
exist, in the cuspidated circles of geometrical tracery *

* The reader is requested to read the
following note in connexion with the
remarks made, ante, p. 77, on Decorated
shading.

The discovery of the art of stippling
a coat of enamel brown, appears, however,
to have been made during the Decorated
period. Shadows having a stipple grain,
may occasionally be detected in Deco-
rated glass paintings, of the latter half of
the fourteenth century. The proportion
they bear to the smear shadows, in the
same work, is indeed always small; and
they seem to differ from smear shadows
only in their granulated texture. Their
ground, like that of a smear shadow, was

never suffered to extend over the lights
of the picture, but was in the first instance
strictly confined to the parts intended to
be in shadow. In this respect, therefore,
these shadows materially differ from stip-
ple shadows, properly so called ; which,
as before stated, are formed by covering
the whole surface of the glass, with a
granulated ground, which is afterwards
removed from such parts as are intended
as lights.

The method of shading in question,
seems most to resemble the mode by
which, formerly, the deeper shadows, in
a stipple- shaded glass painting, were
heightened.

]02

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

SECTION III.
THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

Although Perpendicular glass paintings, taken collec-
tively, are easily distinguishable from Decorated glass paint-
ings, by the form of their details, the greater breadth and
delicacy of their colouring, and their more refined and
finished execution, these changes were introduced so gradu-
ally as to render it difficult, if not impossible, to determine
exactly when the Decorated style ended, and the Perpen-
dicular style commenced. I have made an arbitrary selec-
tion of the year 1380 as the period about which the change
of style may be considered to have taken place ; but the
Perpendicular style can hardly be said to have become
thoroughly established until the beginning of the fifteenth
century. During this interval, therefore, glass paintings
may be classed as Decorated, or Perpendicular, accordingly
as Decorated or Perpendicular features prevail in them.
I think that the Perpendicular style may be deemed to
have terminated with the use of Gothic ornamental details,
about the year 1530 ; consequently, one hundred and fifty
years, or thereabouts, may be assigned as the period of its
duration.

The substitution of ornaments of a peculiarly flat, deli-
cate, and conventional character, for the more decided, and
naturally-shaped leaves, of which so much of the detail of
Decorated glass paintings is composed, constitutes a striking
feature of the Perpendicular style, though one which was
by no means fully developed until the fifteenth century.
The increasing use of the yellow stain, and of white glass,

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

103

in lieu of pot-metal colours, and the gradual adoption of a
less mosaic, and broader style of colouring, may be traced
throughout the interval between 1380 and 1400, but the
predominance of white and yellow stained glass, over the
other colours, is perhaps more strikingly manifested after
the beginning of the fifteenth century.

The stipple, method of shading, which so materially in-
creased the pictorial resources of the art of glass painting,
appears to have been introduced about the commencement
of the fifteenth century. It is true that glass paintings did
not display the full powers of stipple shading until up-
wards of a hundred years afterwards, but it was imme-
diately discovered that this system of shading afforded
remarkable facilities for imparting a highly finished ap-
pearance to glass paintings. The introduction of stipple
shading may also be regarded as having sensibly affected
the colouring of glass paintings ; for the ancient artists
appear to have soon perceived that mosaic arrangements
of stiff and powerful colours, were unfavourable to a dis-
play of the more minute gradations of light and shade in
pictorial compositions ; and that the very shadows them-
selves tended to correct the coldness of white glass, and to
increase the richness of the lighter kinds of coloured glass.

These considerations may serve to account both for the
introduction of large masses of white glass, relieved with
the yellow stain, into the richest picture windows even of
the commencement of the fifteenth century, a practice
which involved the general adoption of a broader style of
colouring; and also for the diminished intensity of tint
in the different kinds of white and coloured glass, as well
as the greater harmony, liveliness, and gaiety of their
hues, and evenness of colour, in proportion as the style
advanced, and the new principle of colouring was car-
ried out,

104

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

The taste for broad and soft colouring, and delicacy of
execution, manifested in Perpendicular picture windows,
naturally, or rather necessarily, extended itself to Perpen-
dicular pattern windows also, which display these qualities
in as remarkable a manner as the former class of windows.
Owing to these circumstances, Perpendicular glass paint-
ings in general, when contrasted with Decorated glass
paintings, are apt to appear paler, and less rich in colour ;
in their general effect, however, they are more brilliant,
softer, more silvery and delicate ; and what they seem to
lose in power they gain in refinement.

The earlier Perpendicular picture glass paintings are
more bright and sparkling than the later examples, in
which the powers of stipple shading are more perfectly
developed; but the deeper shadows, which detract in a
certain degree from the lustre of the glass paintings of the
sixteenth century, sensibly add to their warmth and rich-
ness ; and besides, render them less flat in appearance, and
more effective and distinct when seen from a distance.

The arrangements of this style are more numerous and
varied than those of any other, and seem to have been
adopted without reference to any fixed principle. I shall
confine myself to a short notice of some of the most
common and striking.

The figure and canopy window, probably owing to the
grandeur of effect produced by the simplicity of its design,
and the facilities it afforded for a display of broad colour-
ing, was the favourite arrangement of this period. It was
most extensively employed ; and is to be found in all situa-
tions, whether at the sides, or the extreme ends of a build-
ing, below, or aloft.

In form, the canopies resemble those in the tabernacle
work of the time; they generally have projecting fronts,
and are large in proportion to the figures they cover, but

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

105

not so large as to overpower them, as is sometimes the
case in Decorated work.

The canopy, in general, fills up the whole of the light
in which it is placed ; when however the light is suffi-
ciently long, one or more small panels, containing pictures,
symbolical devices, or armorial bearings, are not unfre-
quently introduced beneath the base of the canopy.

A Perpendicular figure and canopy window greatly
differs from a Decorated example, not only in the archi-
tectural details of the tabernacle work, but also in the
disposition of its colours. It has before been stated that
every pot-metal colour used in the glass paintings of the
time, may generally be found in the architecture of a Deco-
rated canopy. But all the architectural members of a
Perpendicular canopy, with the exception sometimes of the
little windows in its head, or the groining of the principal
niche, are composed of white glass ; the crockets, finials,
and other details, being stained yellow. The strong pot-
metal colours are principally confined to the ground with
which the head of the canopy is backed, to the figure under
it, and the background of the niche. This practice of sur-
rounding, as it were, the colouring of the picture with
masses of white and yellow stained glass, is not confined
to figure and canopy windows, but may be observed in
almost all Perpendicular designs. It may indeed be con-
sidered as an essential feature of the style.

Each lower light of a Perpendicular figure and canopy
window is occupied with a figure and canopy, and the
repetition of the subject produces a very striking effect in
all cases, and especially when the window itself is divided
into several tiers of lights by transoms. The principal
tracery lights are filled either with small figures and cano-
pies, or with heraldry, or foliaged ornaments ; in all of which
white glass prevails, more or less enriched with the yellow

106

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

stain : and the smaller tracery lights with white and yellow
stained ornaments, or plain pieces of coloured glass1.

Another arrangement of this style, of more common
occurrence however during the first half of the fifteenth
century than afterwards, and which for convenience sake
may be termed the panelled arrangement ; consists in filling
each of the lower lights, with the exception sometimes
of a small space near the bottom, with a series of flat-
topped canopies or panels, of the same width as the light
itself, placed closely together ; each canopy or panel con-
taining a picture executed in white and pot-metal glass.

The tracery lights of such a window are usually occupied
with small figures and canopies, or ornaments, and the
vacant space, if any, below the subjects in the lower lights,
is in general filled with ornamented quarries, or heraldic
decorations, &c.y

The various panels are usually of the same size, and their
subjects commonly bear some relation to each other ; but
instances may be met with where a subject much longer
than the others is represented in the centre light of the
window, occupying as much space as two or more of the
smaller panels in the side lights, with which it is made to
range.

In other windows may be noticed a belt of low-crowned
canopies, each covering a figure, or a group of figures, exe-
cuted in colours ; which crosses the lower lights, as in

x See representations of figure and
canopy windows, Lasteyrie, " Histoire
de la Peinture sur verre," plate LXIX.
Lysons' " Gloucestershire," p. 109. See
also Hedgeland's " Description of the
Windows of St. Neot's Church, Corn-
wall," 4to. Lond. 1830, plates II, III,
IV, V, VI, X, XI, XII. As these last
plates represent the windows after their
"restoration" in 1829, they are, I fear,
not very trustworthy.

1 See representations of panelled ar-

rangements, Lasteyrie, " Histoire de la
Peinture sur verre," plate LIV. ; Hedge-
land's " Description of the Windows of
St. Neot's Church, Cornwall," plates
I, VIII, IX, XVI. See also a plate of
the east window of York minster, from
a drawing by J. Haynes in 1736, pub-
lished at York, 1832; a faint outline of
the gl ass in this window is likewise given
in Britton's " Hist, of York Cathedral,"
plate XXV.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

107

a Decorated window ; the space above and below the cano-
pies being filled with ornamented quarries, or in German
examples, with round glass.

In other windows such a canopy or panel is placed in
the middle of the central lower light only, the rest of the
window being filled with ornamented quarries, &c.

In other examples a figure, standing on a bracket, occu-
pies the central portion of one, or each of the lower lights
of a window, without any canopy or background, the space
above and below the figure being filled with ornamented
quarries", and occasionally enriched by the insertion into
it, above or below the figure, of a small panel, or wreath,
containing either a picture or a coat of arms, or a badge, a
sacred emblem, monogram, or the like. A modification of
this arrangement may be seen in small three-lighted win-
dows in the fifteenth century, where a representation of the
Crucifixion occupies the central portion of the middle light ;
and figures of the Virgin Mary and St. John, standing on
brackets, take up the central portions of the outer lights,
each subject being surrounded with ornamented quarries ;
and sometimes having beneath it the portraits or arms of
the donors of the window.

Pattern windows in this style are by no means un-
common. They are almost always made up of quarries
of white glass, ornamented with stained yellow devices and
borders. Badges, shields of arms, or emblems, painted on
small panels of glass, usually of circular form, are often
introduced into either their lower or tracery lights, or into
both. German pattern windows are generally composed of
round glass.

I have hitherto been speaking of arrangements consisting
of separate subjects, not extending beyond the limits of a

1 See Lysons' " Gloucestershire," p. 353. The figures in this window
p. XIII ; see also the window of West have likewise been engraved in Weale's
Wickham church, Kent, Lysons, vol. iv. " Quarterly Papers," vol. ii.

108

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

single lower light. It was, however, by no means an un-
common practice, in this style, to extend the same design
into two or more adjacent lights, or even over the whole
window. This practice, though of considerable antiquity
on the continent, does not appear, from existing examples,
to have been very freely adopted in England until towards
the close of the fifteenth century; when it was often re-
sorted to with the happiest effect, as a means of represent-
ing, on a scale as large as the figures in figure and
canopy windows, groups of figures and other subjects,
which, if confined within the narrow limits of a single
light, must have been reduced to dimensions so insig-
nificant as to prevent their being distinctly seen from
a distance : a defect which is strikingly exemplified in the
earlier panelled arrangements.

Subjects, when extending over the whole of a window,
are seldom surrounded with any kind of ornament, the
picture reaching quite up to the outside limits of the
window : so, canopies, or other architectural ornaments, are
frequently dispensed with, late in the style, even when the
design itself does not extend beyond the limits of a single
light. In general, however, when the same picture occu-
pies some of the lower lights of a window, it is included
within a canopy, or a bower of foliaged work. These
canopies being principally composed of white, and yellow
stained glass, are of great use in keeping the different sub-
jects distinct, when, as is often the case, several pictures
of different dimensions are included in the same window.
The effect of such an arrangement, when properly managed,
is extremely satisfactory, and may be likened to that of
a number of great and small pictures framed, and hung
up close together. In some instances an architectural
design, in the form of one general canopy, traverses all,
or several of the lower lights of a window, but includes

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

109

beneath its arch several distinct figures or subjects, each
confined within the limits of a single light3.

The earlier wheel windows of this period have a star-
like appearance, like those of the last ; the later ex-
amples, however, more nearly resemble a rainbow. The
first are composed of variegated patterns, while in the last
the colours are collected together towards the circum-
ference, and in the eye of the window, in concentric circles
of different widths, and sometimes nearly in the prismatic
order. A broad space of white glass, sometimes enriched
with yellow ornaments, separates the colour in the eye of
the window, from that in its circumference.

The earlier Jesse windows consist of a vine springing
from a recumbent figure of Jesse ; and which forms, by the
crossing of its branches, a regular series, sometimes of oval,
but more frequently of hexagonal openings, in each of
which a figure is placed. The ramifications of the vine,
which in general extend over the whole or greater part
of the window, independently of the mullions, are usually
white, and the leaves which spring from them are either
white or variegated. The ground of the whole window is
often of the same tint, but sometimes the insides of the
openings appropriated to the figures are of a different
colour to that of the general ground of the window : in
other instances, when this is not the case, an alternation of
colour throughout the whole design is produced by making
the entire ground of each light alternately, red and blue b.

In the later Jesse windows, the vine assumes a more
playful and varied form. It is generally placed on a co-
loured ground, and the figures of kings and patriarchs, &c.

a Parts of a canopy of this description
are represented in some of the plates
taken from the glass in the east window
of the choir, Winchester cathedral, in
the second vol. of Weale's " Quarterly
Papers."

b This is the case with the east win-
dow of the chapel of Winchester college.
The east window of Gloucester cathe-
dral, a figure and canopy window late in
the Decorated style, exhibits a similar
alternation of colour.

110

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

stand upon its branches, or sit upon foliaged stools grow-
ing out of them. The branches of the vine, as well as
its principal leaves, are generally coloured white or yel-
low; many of its leaves, however, are formed of various
pot-metals. The Jesse often occupies only two or three
lights of a window, the remaining lights being filled with
other subjects.

I shall conclude my remarks on Perpendicular arrange-
ments, which I fear have been already drawn out to a
wearisome length, by observing that they comprise not
only a great variety of new combinations, but also almost
every old one which has before been noticed, and every
variation of which it is susceptible. Owing to this circum-
stance the Perpendicular style is greatly superior to the
Decorated, and Early English, in resources and general
applicability.

The ante-chapel of New college, Oxford, contains some
of the best examples extant of early Perpendicular glass.
All its windows, except the west, retain their original
glazing, which is generally in a very perfect state. They
are all figure and canopy windows ; and may be said to be
all of the same date, though some differences of style are
observable in them, marking in a very satisfactory man-
ner the transition almost from Decorated to Perpendicular
work. The figures and canopies which most partake of
the Decorated character, are in the east windows of the
ante-chapel : but even in these may be observed the prin-
ciple of excluding all colours except white and stained
yellow from the architectural members of the canopy. The
windows of the body of the chapel retain their original
glazing only in their tracery lights. I have little doubt but
that these windows originally were likewise figure and
canopy windows. New college chapel, as is well known,
has no east window ; but the general arrangement of the

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. Ill

glass in a contemporary building of like character, and
furnished with an east window, has fortunately been pre-
served at Winchester college. The original glass of the
chapel of Winchester college, with the exception of a few
trifling fragments, does not exist, but its design has been
faithfully copied in modern glass. From this it appears
that all the side windows of the chapel were originally
figure and canopy windows, the canopies, like those at New
college, Oxon, being always confined within the limits of
a single light; and that the east window was filled, as
to its tracery lights, with a representation of the Day of
Judgment, and as to its lower lights, with a magnificent
Jesse. The great west window of Winchester cathedral,
is a figure and canopy window, of very early date. I have
some ground for believing, that all the side windows of
the nave, and aisles, and clearstory, of the nave of Win-
chester cathedral, were figure and canopy windows.

In the choir of York minster, the glass of which is of
different dates, varying from the end of the fourteenth
century to the middle of the fifteenth0, figure and canopy
windows, panelled arrangements, and combinations of the
two, are rather promiscuously employed. The original
clearstory windows are indeed figure and canopy win-
dows, but the great east window, of which a very distant
view is obtained, is but a panelled arrangement, its lower
lights being filled with a series of panels representing
the whole Bible history, each incident forming a separate
picture. Its tracery lights are adorned with single figures
and ornamentsd. The great north and south windows of

c The foregoing examples are cited reader is referred for further informa-

principally with the object of directing tion.

the student's personal attention to them. d This window has been engraved, see

The dates of many of these windows the former note (y, p. 106). The contract

have been ascertained with considerable for glazing it is dated 10th Aug. 1405,

exactness, in " Brown's History of York and stipulates for the completion of the

Minster," to which valuable work the work in three years from that time. John

112 THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

that curious projection, which may be called the eastern
transepts, are likewise panelled arrangements. The lower
windows of the aisles, with the exception of a fine Jesse,
of similar character to that in the chapel of Winchester
college, are either figure and canopy windows, or have
their lower lights occupied with large figures and canopies,
and a series of panels beneath them.

I may refer to the ante-chapel of All Souls' college,
Oxford, as affording an example of a general arrangement
of the reign of Henry VI. All the windows of the ante-
chapel are figure and canopy windows, their details are of
pure Perpendicular character.

Nettlestead church, Kent, a small building consisting
merely of a tower, nave, and chancel, retains most of its
original glazing. The south windows of the nave were
almost totally destroyed by a storm many years ago, but
enough of the glass still remains, I think, to shew that like
the windows on the north side, they were originally figure
and canopy windows. All the glass in the nave is of the
latter part of the reign of Henry VI. That in the chancel
appears from an inscription to have been put up in 1465,
and affords a rather striking contrast to that in the nave,
being more simple in its design, and much less richly
coloured. The tracery lights of the chancel windows are
filled with heraldry, emblems, &c, and judging from the
remains in the north and east windows, their lower lights
each contained a single figure, or other subject, supported
by a bracket, and placed on a ground of ornamented quar-
ries. A separate subject appears to have been inserted at

Thornton of Coventry, the glazier, in must he admitted that he has succeeded

case he performed the work to the satis- in producing not only one of the highest

faction of his employers, was to receive finished, but also one of the most artistic

the sum of £10. in silver, over and above works of the time. The details and ex-

the stipulated price. Whether or not he ecution of this window, are of the purest

was influenced by this consideration, it Perpendicular character.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

113

the bottom of the light. In the east window, portraits of
its donors are thus introduced.

Many of the churches in York afford examples of general
arrangements. I may mention All Saints' church, North-
street, in which figure and canopy windows, and panelled
arrangements, appear to be used promiscuously ; and also
St. Martin's-le-Grand church. The west window of this
church has five lower lights, the four outer of which each
contains three tiers of square-headed panels, including sepa-
rate subjects, the upper panel being surmounted with a fine
canopy. In the centre light a large figure of St. Martin,
under a canopy, is introduced, which ranges with the two
upper tiers of subjects and canopy above them, in the
outer lights ; a separate subject ranging with the lowest
tier of pictures in the outer lights, being placed below the
feet of the figure.

The great north window of the western transept of Can-
terbury cathedral, appears to have been originally a figure
and canopy window. It contains portraits of Edw. IVth's
family, and like some of the rather later windows of Great
Malvern church, and the east window of Little Malvern
church, Worcestershire, has a remarkably soft and silvery
appearance.

The seven east windows of the choir of St. Lawrence's
church, Nuremberg, which are mostly of the close of the
fifteenth century, are excellent specimens of panelled
arrangements, consisting of an intermixture of small panels
confined to a single lower light, with larger panels extend-
ing into two or more such lights, and varying in length and
shape as much as in breadth. Similar arrangements are
likewise afforded by the five windows in the north aisle of
the nave of Cologne cathedral, which are of the early part
of the sixteenth century. In all these windows may be
observed the progressive developement of the powers of

114

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

stipple shading, and the more pictorial character assumed
by glass paintings in consequence. The white glass em-
ployed is silvery, and almost colourless, its tint inclining to
yellow.

Fairford church, Gloucestershire, contains perhaps the
best and most extensive specimens existing in this country
of painted glass of the early part of the sixteenth century6.
Nearly all of its twenty-eight windows retain their original
glazing, which is generally in a very perfect state; and
they afford not only valuable examples of particular arrange-
ments, but also of the general disposition of subjects
throughout an entire building. All the clearstory windows
of this church are figure and canopy windows, but with
the exception of four figure and canopy windows in the
north side of the north aisle, and four more in the south
side of the south aisle, towards the western end of the
edifice*, the other windows are all filled as to their lower
lights with one or more pictures illustrative of Holy Writ.
The great west window for instance, is entirely occupied
with a representation of the Day of Judgment : the east
window has its upper tier of lower lights filled with a

e The peculiar character of the Fair-
ford glass paintings induces me to class
them as a work of the sixteenth century.

The tradition, (for it amounts to
nothing more,) that Fairford church was
founded by John Tame in 1493, for the
reception of this glass which he had just
then taken in a valuable prize, is impro-
bable ; for it can hardly be supposed
that this costly edifice was built for the
sake of such a drug as these windows
must then have been considered, however
highly we may now esteem them. The
facts indeed seem to point to a different
conclusion. The windows of the church
are late Perpendicular, of thoroughly
English character; yet the glass paint-
ings exactly fit the stone-work, which
they would hardly have done had they
been originally designed for the windows
of a foreign building. Moreover, Eng-
lish royal cognizances are introduced in

some of the tracery lights, on the south
side of the church, the glass of which
does not differ in character and effect
from that in the other windows. The
story, however, seems to admit of an ex-
planation reconcileable with the date I
have ventured to assign to the glass.
Mr. Tame may have taken a rich prize,
and applied its proceeds to the building
of the church, and adorning of its win-
dows with painted glass. He died in
1500. The church was completed by
his son, Sir Edmund Tame, who died in
1534. [Byland's " Hist, of Gloucester-
shire," Lond. 1721. p. 568.] In all
probability the windows were not painted
until the edifice was ready for their
reception.

' Two of the Fairford figures are
engraved in " Fowler's Mosaic Pave-
ments and Painted Glass."

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

115

painting of the Crucifixion, while in each of the five lights
of the lower tier, is represented some incident of our
Saviour's life, &c. These glass paintings exhibit in a
striking degree the vast progress which the art had made
in the early part of the sixteenth century. The shadows
are bold and deep, but perfectly transparent, the drawing
of the draperies is excellent, and of the figures themselves
tolerably correct : and a general richness and warmth is
imparted to the picture by using a fine brown enamel for
shading, the colour of which is assisted by the yellow tone
of the white glass. As a glass painting the great east
window of Winchester cathedral is not inferior to any work
at Fairford, but it has sustained such damage at different
times that its general effect can scarcely be judged of g.

The windows of the church of St. Mary of the Capitol at
Cologne, are valuable examples of late German Perpendi-
cular glass, and of the mode in which round glass may be
combined with painted glass in the same window. The
windows themselves consist of three lower lights and a
head of tracery. In some, only the central lower light is
adorned with a painting, the outer lights, as well as the
tracery lights, and such part of the central light as is not
occupied with the painting, being furnished with ornamented
borders, and glazed with round glass. Stars of colour,
which will be more particularly described hereafter, are
employed to enrich the round glass in the outer lights. In
other windows all the lower lights are, in equal degree,
partially filled with painted glass, which sometimes consists
of one general design, sometimes of several distinct sub-
jects, the rest of the window being glazed as before men-
tioned with round glass, &c. In one window a square-
headed canopy with a picture under it, occupies the mid-

s Bishop Fox, whose armorial bearings dow, held the see of Winchester from
and motto are introduced into this win- 1509 to 1528.

116

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

die part of the central lower light only. An arrange-
ment which though resembling a Decorated arrangement in
character, is not unfrequent in late German Perpendicular
glass.

The round glass in the windows of St. Mary's of the
Capitol, has been at some not very distant time, injudiciously
smeared over with what appears to be blue varnish colour.
This of course will in time peel off, and leave the glass
uninjured. For the present, however, in order to judge
fairly of the effect of round glazing in combination with
painted glass, recourse must be had to other examples
where the round glass has been left untouched; as for
instance the windows of St. Peter's church, Cologne, which
I shall more particularly notice in the course of my re-
marks on the Cinque Cento style.

I now propose to give a summary of the most remark-
able Perpendicular details before I enter upon their more
minute examination.

The grand characteristic of all Perpendicular glass paint-
ings is delicacy, sometimes even bordering on timidity,
and general breadth of effect. It displays itself not merely
in the highly-finished execution of the figures, and the
general style and tone of colouring, but in the form of the
most trifling and subordinate ornaments.

Perpendicular figures are in general superior to the
Decorated in grandeur and dignity, their attitudes are less
fantastic, and their draperies possess a simpler and still
broader character. The elaborate execution of the work is
however apt to occasion the countenances of the figures to
be less distinct and striking when viewed from a distance ;
but this defect is more observable in glass paintings prior
to the sixteenth century than afterwards, when a bolder
style of shading in great measure supplied the loss of the
strong Decorated outlines.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

117

Perpendicular figures are more commonly too squat than
too tall in their proportions. A light pink glass was fre-
quently used, early in the style, for the faces and naked
parts of the figures ; in England, however, it was soon dis-
continued, and white glass substituted, but flesh-coloured
glass is occasionally to be met with on the continent, at all
periods of the style. In the sixteenth century the flesh is
coloured by slightly tinting the white glass with a red
enamel, resembling china red. The hair and beards of the
figures are frequently stained yellow, sometimes however
they are merely coloured brown. Stipple shading was
almost universally employed after the close of the fourteenth
century, but smear shading is likewise occasionally to be
met with throughout the style.

The canopies are sometimes flat-fronted, like the Deco-
rated, in general however the front of the canopy is three-
sided, and projects beyond the figure. Until towards the
close of the fifteenth century, the space beneath the canopy
not occupied by the figure, was usually filled up with a stiff
ground, reaching to the groining of the canopy, and termi-
nating at bottom in a fringe, like a piece of tapestry. In
the later examples, the plan of the niche is in general
distinctly shewn. A piece of tapestry is suspended behind
the figure, from a rod on a level with its shoulders ; above
it, the back of the niche is often represented as if pierced
with windows. The figure generally stands on a pavement,
exhibited in very sharp perspective ; when the space allows,
the canopy is commonly furnished with a regular pedestal.
As I have before stated, the architectural members of the
canopy, with the exception of the groining of the principal
niche, and the little windows in the head of the canopy,
are all composed of white, and yellow stained glass. The
smaller crockets from almost the beginning of the fifteenth
century, are usually represented like rounded knobs of

118

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

stoneh, and the larger crockets and finials assumed, as the
style advanced, a variety of fantastic shapes. In the earlier
canopies, the later Decorated details prevail1.

The ornamental work on the draperies, on the quarries,
in the borders of the windows, in the architecture of the
canopies, in diapers, &c, after struggling with the Deco-
rated until the beginning of the fifteenth century, assumed
an entirely new character, wonderfully harmonizing with
the general breadth and delicacy of Perpendicular glass
paintings. In form it is highly conventional, and feathery ;
its outline is tender and varied, and on the whole it more
resembles embroidery work, in its flatness and irregularity,
than any thing else-*.

The early Perpendicular white glass closely resembles
the late Decorated in tint and in richness of tone ; it how-
ever gradually became colder, until towards the beginning
of the fifteenth century, when it assumed a cold blue green
tint, which it preserved, with but little change, until the
end of the reign of Henry VI., varying, however, very con-
siderably in depth in different parts of the country. It then
became rather yellower, and uniformly paler, but did not
wholly lose its blueness until perhaps the end of the reign
of Edward IV. ; the glass then wholly assumed a yellow
tint; not the rich yellow tint which is sometimes ob-
servable in Decorated glass, but a very much lighter and
colder tinge of yellow ; indeed, this glass would appear to
an unpractised eye quite white. It continued of the same

h See plate 56.

1 See plate 15, fig. 2.

J Compare plate 54, which is taken
from an example of the latter part of the
fourteenth century, with the later Per-
pendicular ornaments represented in
plates 58, 59, 61, 61 A, 63, 64, 70, and
19, &c. The Decorated lion's head in
plate 46, should also be compared with
the Perpendicular example in plate 65,
and the early Perpendicular rose in

cut 19, with the late one in cut 20.
I should add, that the contrast between
Decorated and Perpendicular details is
in reality greater in the original glass
than in these engravings, for the outlines
used in Perpendicular work, though
sometimes as broad, are not in general,
so dark as those used in Decorated work,
a distinction which could not have been
easily preserved in the plates.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE

119

general yellow tint, in some instances, of course, inclining
a little more to blue, in others a little more to yellow,
during the remainder of this style, and also throughout the
whole of the succeeding style.

The red glass, towards the end of the reign of Henry VI.,
is far more scarlet and brilliant, though paler in tint than
that of the early part of the fifteenth century. The streaki-
ness and irregularity of the Early English and Decorated
ruby, are not observable in the Perpendicular ruby, though
a considerable, but gradual variation in depth of colour
from one side to the other of a large sheet of glass, may
often be remarked.

It was during the Perpendicular period that the practice
arose of grinding off the coloured surface of ruby glass, so
as to produce white or yellow objects on a red ground.
Blue glass in Perpendicular glass paintings, is almost in-
variably light, and of a soft purplish hue. It took the
yellow stain remarkably well, and is extensively used in the
later glass paintings, broken and varied with the stain, in
pictorial backgrounds. Some of the most harmonious and
exquisite tints to be found in coloured glass are afforded by
the purples and pinks of this period j they are at once light
and brilliant, and rich and soft in tone. The same remark
applies to green glass likewise.

The yellow stain varies much in colour according to that
of the white glass. When the latter is cold and green, the
yellow stain is cold and green also. The yellow stain,
however, does not appear to have affected the Perpendicular
white glass with the same degree of intensity as it did the
Decorated, until the reign of Edward IV., and afterwards,
when the white glass itself generally assumed a yellow tinge.
The stain then became deep and golden, and the glass
paintings lost in consequence much of that coldness which
is so remarkable a feature in the earlier Perpendicular

120

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

works. "Double staining" was occasionally resorted to
towards the close of the style.

Heraldry affords one of the most splendid sources of
ornament of this period. The shield, with numerous and
complicated quarterings, is often introduced, with all the
accompaniments of helmet, mantling, crest, &c. Sometimes
the shield is used alone, and sometimes it is enclosed within
a very beautiful wreath. The earlier shields are in form
simple escutcheons, straight at top, the sides parallel for
a little distance, and then brought together like a reversed
Gothic arch. Towards the sixteenth century the same
shaped shield became squarer in form, and less pointed at
bottom. Almost every variety of shield may be met with
from the latter part of the reign of Henry VI. Some of the
forms are extremely fanciful and elegant*.

I shall now endeavour to describe these matters more at
large under the following heads.

1. Texture and colour of the glass.

The glass at the beginning of this style of course did not
differ from that used at the close of the last ; like it, it was
rich and brilliant. A considerable change, however, seems
to have taken place during the first twenty years of the
Perpendicular period, involving a diminution in the depth
of some colours, and a loss of richness in others. The
white glass appears to have sustained more variation than
any other glass, and the changes in its texture afford, on
the whole, tests of date.

it See plates 20 and 21. Large of Salisbury (in which diocese Ockwell's

coloured engravings of four of the win- House was formerly situate) in 1450. As

dows in the hall of Ockwell's House, Henry VI., whose arms are in one of the

Berks, are given in Lysons' "Berks," windows, was deposed in 1461, these two

p. 247. dates seem to define the period to some

In this hall are also the arms of part of which the Ockwell's glass should

Richard Beauchamp, who became bishop be assigned.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

121

The white glass used in the earlier Perpendicular glass
paintings, was like the late Decorated white glass, of a
rich sea-green tint, and of great thickness in the sheet.
It gradually lost its richness, becoming towards the com-
mencement of the fifteenth century, of a cold greenish blue
hue, but preserving its sparkling brilliancy, as well as its
general thickness in the sheet. It continued of this cold
tone ; and its colour in the southern and western parts of
England, was scarcely diminished in depth until the close
of the reign of Henry VI. In the north, however, the
white glass even of the early part of the fifteenth century
is in general much less strongly coloured than that in other
parts of the country.

During the reign of Edward IV. the white glass, which
had before in general varied much in thickness, became
thinner, and of a more uniform substance throughout the
sheet; and its tint gradually changed from a cold blue
green, to a cold yellow green, which last tint it had uni-
versally assumed by the end of the reign of Edward IV.
It preserved the same yellow hue until the close of the
style. This change in the complexion of the glass will be
found, I believe, to be generally true, in England at least ;
and I have noticed similar variations in foreign glass. It
is of course subject to many exceptions and qualifications,
arising no doubt from accidental circumstances connected
with its manufacture. Thus, for instance, in the reign
of Henry VII., pieces of glass may occasionally be found
of as rich a yellow as the late Decorated. On minute
examination, however, considerable differences in texture
will be discovered, the later glass being fuller of air-
bubbles than the earlier glass ; its colour also approaches
the dusky tint of common bottle-green glass. The yellow
stain was materially influenced by the colour of the white
glass. It operated more strongly on the yellow than on

122

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

the green tinted white glass. When applied to the former
species, and over-fired, it is apt to assume a deep orange
tint, whilst in some pieces of the cold green white glass
of the time of Henry VI., which have been over-fired, the
stain has been changed in places to a light pink, or faint
scarlet colour.

The ruby also underwent a very considerable change.
It had quite lost its former streakiness as early as the
beginning of the fifteenth century, at which time the coat
of colouring matter was reduced to the thickness of a sheet
of writing paper. This is exhibited in cut 1, given in
a note to the Introduction. Specimens are, however, to be
found as deep in colour as at any former period, though in
general the ruby became lighter, and more of a bright
scarlet, or crimson tint, as the style advanced.

The colour was always subject to considerable, though
gradual variations in depth in the course of the sheet.
The ancient artists often availed themselves (as is now
done) of these accidents in the manufacture, and cut the
glass with reference to the general effect of the painting ;
bringing the light parts of the sheet into the light parts of
the picture, and vice versa. Ruby glass, damaged or im-
perfect in its manufacture, was often introduced with great
effect into architectural designs late in the style, to repre-
sent variegated marble. Such, for instance, is the glass in
which the ruby colour appears to have vanished in certain
parts of the sheet, leaving a sort of copper-green colour
in its place l. " Sprinkled ruby" was also used for these
and similar purposes. The practice of abrading the coloured

1 Ruby glass, exhibiting similar pe-
culiarities, was occasionally used in De-
corated glass paintings also. Some very
large pieces of glass of this description,
having a pale green colour, with here
and there slight streaks of red, have
been employed to represent the water,

through which wades a gigantic figure
of St. Christopher, which occupies a
portion of the central lower light of the
second window, counting from the west,
of the south aisle of the nave of York
minster.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

123

surface of ruby glass in certain places, so as to leave
white spots on a red ground, appears to have been intro-
duced during the latter half of the fifteenth century. It
greatly facilitated the representation of complicated coats
of arms.

The blue glass lost much of its richness and depth
during this period. It is generally of a soft purple hue,
but sometimes of a cold grey tint. Coated blue was intro-
duced towards the sixteenth century, and was occasionally
subjected to the same process of removing parts of its
coloured surface by abrasion, as was practised on ruby
glass.

The pot-metal yellow glass is generally of a fine golden
colour; it is, however, sometimes with difficulty distin-
guished from the stained yellow. Towards the close of the
style the yellow stain was sometimes used to heighten, in
places, the colour of the yellow pot-metal glass, a prac-
tice which produces the same effect exactly as double
staining.

The tints of purple, pink, and green glass, throughout
this period, are very pleasing and harmonious. Much of
the purple is formed, as mentioned in a note to the Intro-
duction, by enclosing a layer of a light red glass within two
layers of blue glass. The sheets thus constituted are not
thicker than the glass ordinarily employed. A light pink
pot-metal glass was much used for flesh-colour early in the
style ; and on the continent, occasionally at all periods of
the style. It much resembles the later Decorated flesh-
colour in tint. A much lighter and yellower sort of flesh-
coloured glass was sometimes used in the sixteenth cen-
tury ; but towards the close of the style a slight wash of
an enamel colour, resembling china red, was frequently
applied as a flesh-colour to the white glass, of which the
naked parts of the figures were made, and which white

124

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

glass seems in general to have been selected for this pur-
pose, with reference to the yellowness of its tint m.

2. Mode of execution.

Perpendicular glass paintings are in general easily dis-
tinguishable from Early English, and Decorated, by their
handling, whether they are executed in outline only, or
with shadows combined with outlines.

It is true that throughout the Perpendicular style out-
lines as firm and black as those of any other period, were
repeatedly used to define the eye or nose — the contour of
a face — the crockets of a canopy — to mark the division
between two quarries painted on the same piece of glass,
and not separated with a lead line — or the like : but the
outline employed after the beginning of the fifteenth cen-
tury for ordinary purposes, and with which the painting is
principally executed, is almost inyariably not only narrower
than the Decorated outline, but is also very much fainter,
and less full of colour, besides being, in general, less firm
and decided. Towards the end of the fifteenth century the
stroke often appears ragged and uneven, as if made with
an almost dry brush.

The outline is generally more juicy and flowing during
the sixteenth century, though it still continues pale and
transparent. In inscriptions, the letters were very fre-
quently slightly marked out with a faint outline, and after-

m Nothing can be more satisfactory
than the fine rich warm colour of the
hands and faces, &c, which, in late Per-
pendicular, and Cinque Cento work, are
often simply painted with brown enamel,
on yellow tinted white glass, whilst
nothing is more disagreeable than the
sickly jaundiced appearance so often
exhibited by modern figures painted in
imitation of the ancient. Assuming that

the tint of the white glass is in both
cases alike, the difference of effect must
be occasioned by the different tint of the
ancient and modern enamel brown. The
former is of a rich Vandyke brown tint,
which harmonizes with the yellowness of
the white glass; the latter is of a cold
sepia tint, which is rendered colder by
the colour of the glass.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

125

wards filled in with a thick, and consequently black coat
of paint.

Stipple shading appears to have been introduced about
the beginning of the fifteenth century11, and soon almost
entirely superseded the smear method. Smear shadows
are, however, occasionally to be met with throughout the
style, principally in ornamental work, and, as it would seem,
their employment arose rather from the painter's negligence
in omitting to stipple the enamel ground after laying it on,
than from any deliberate design.

The full power of stipple shading in producing shadows
at once deep and transparent, was unknown till nearly the
close of the Perpendicular style. In the earliest examples
the stipple shadows, even in their darkest parts, hardly
exceed the lightest smear shadows in strength. Indeed
until the latter half of the fifteenth century the shadows are
so light and faint as to be hardly perceptible even at a short
distance; and although their ground is more spread over
the glass than the ground of a smear shadow, it by reason
of its thinness scarcely subdues the brilliancy of the glass.
On this account, coupled also with the cold green hue of
the white glass, which a light shadow was unable to correct,
and the comparative thinness of all kinds of glass in the
sheet, the earlier Perpendicular glass paintings are even
more lustrous and gem-like than the late Decorated. Thus
for a long period stipple shadows were more remarkable
for their delicacy and finish, than their depth and effective-
ness. Many attempts were made to strengthen the shadows
with a hatching of thin lines, sometimes as thin and fine
as a hair, and in representations of architecture with a flou-
rishing of thin lines °. In the reigns of Edward IV. and
Henry VII. dots of black paint were often used to deepen

11 See a late specimen of stipple shading, plate 72.
° See plates 6G, 14.

126

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

the shadows in the architecture of the canopies. The stipple
ground, whether employed in diapers or shadows, was very
fine in its grain until towards the end of the fifteenth cen-
tury, when it became coarser. The deeper shadows had
always been coarser in grain than the general ground.

The bolder and more effective shading of the sixteenth
century gave greater rotundity and distinctness to the
figures, whilst the shadows, being more spread over the
glass, and increasing in thickness, imparted their own fine
brown tint to it, and greatly increased the richness of the
painting. They were however too thoroughly stippled to
occasion any opacity to arise from their depth. The latest
shadows are often strengthened with a hatching of dark
lines p.

At all times of the style, the shadows were applied to
both sides of the glass, whenever it was necessary to in-
crease their strength beyond a certain Hmit. I think it
appears from a careful examination of a stipple shadow,
that an uniform coat of colour was first applied to the glass,
out of which the lights were taken, and that the depth of
the shadow was produced by one other coat of colour —
increasing in thickness in the darker parts of the shadow —
the moisture of which dissolved the ground beneath it, so
that the brush in stippling it, penetrated through both
coats to the surface of the glass. It is only in this way
that I can account for the transparency of ancient stipple
shadows in their darkest parts. If great depth was re-
quired, a fresh application of a single coat of enamel was
made to the back of the glass, opposite the deepest part of
the shadow, and in stippling was softened off as it ap-
proached the light parts of the subject.

The colour of the enamel brown used for shadows and
outlines, was, until the early part of the sixteenth century,

p See plate 72.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

127

in general, of a cool purple tint; it afterwards more ap-
proached the warmth, and richness, of Vandyke brown.

Diaper patterns are profusely used throughout this style
to embellish draperies, shields of arms, backgrounds'1, &c.

3. Figures.

The mode of representing the human figure became
better understood, and more refined during this period;
but it is not until the close of the style, that the union of
correct drawing, and just proportion, with grandeur of
conception, and severity of outline, is to be met with, even
in draped figures.

Even in the early part of the sixteenth century the figures,
though in other respects drawn with tolerable accuracy,
and exhibiting a very high degree of finish, are yet in
general too slight, and too narrow across the shoulders for
their height : a peculiarity which probably arose from the
artist's desire to introduce large figures under canopies,
leaving at the same time a sufficient space between them
and the pillars of the canopy to render the figure distinct.
For this practice of assimilating the proportions of the
figure to that of the space allotted to it, was very com-
mon throughout the fifteenth century; and accordingly
we find, both early and late in this period, a squat, thickset
figure, sometimes even less than four heads high, occupying
a tracery light, or a panel of a Jesse formed by the branches
of the tree, or even placed under a canopy where sufficient
head-room was not left for a taller figure. Towards the
close of the fifteenth century however, kneeling, or even
demi-figures, were often introduced into the shorter tracery

i See plates 16, and 21, and " Weale's Quarterly Papers," part I. plates 1, 3,
and 4.

128

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

lights, by which means their proportions were better pre-
served.

Greater repose was given to the figures in this than in
either of the former styles ; and they do not, even when in
action, appear in such strained or forced attitudes, as the
Decorated figures.

The draperies are generally disposed in very broad and
grand folds ; they sometimes hang down in a rather heavy
manner, so as to impart to the whole figure a somewhat
column-like appearance1.

The German figures, especially of the time of Albert
Durer, are easily distinguished from the English, by the
multitude of little angular cramples into which the sur-
faces of the greater folds of the draperies are broken up.

The heads, even of the early part of this period, will be
found on a close examination to present many differences

Cut 18.

Stowting ChurcLi, Kent

* See plates 16, 17, 18. Other Per-
pendicular figures are engraved in the
plates referred to in the former notes (x

and y, p. 106.) See also Weale's "Quar-
terly Papers," part I. plates 1 and 2, 3,
and 4 ; and part II. plate 10.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

129

in drawing as compared with the Decorated. In the first
place, the outlines generally, are more tender and refined ;
and the features are more carefully and delicately shaded,
stipple shadows being used, which, though light, mate-
rially assist the outlines in giving expression to the counte-
nance. The form of the eyebrow, especially in ideal figures,
is still more arched ; as the style advanced, it became
almost semicircular, and after the beginning of the fifteenth
century, was in general defined only by a few lines, so thin
and faint as in many cases to be barely perceptible ; the
opening of the mouth is differently shaped, and the upper
lip is usually represented, as well as the lower. The iris of
the eye is almost always distinguished, and shaded dark,
while the pupil itself is marked by a black dot. The nose
is but faintly delineated, except at the tip, which as well as
the nostril is generally expressed by a dark stroke. The
upper eyelid, and opening of the mouth, as well as the
general outline of the face, are in general strongly defined;
but all the other fines, especially those used to denote the
lower eyelid, lips, and lineaments of the face, are light, and
faint, The general contour of the face is oval, terminating
in a small and pointed chin. These distinctive marks of
course become more apparent with the progress of the style.
At the end of the fifteenth century, the use of outlines was
almost altogether superseded by the skilful and bold manner
in which the shadows were applied ; and more completely
so at the close of the style, at which period the heads were
in general very correctly and naturally drawn.

White glass was usually employed for the heads and
naked parts of the figures. The hair of the head was
often stained yellow, and in portraits especially was some-
times made brown, by a strong application of the enamel
ground s.

* The heads represented in plates 57 and those in plates 67 and 68, are of the
and 62, are of the reign of Henry VI.; commencement of the reign of Edward IV.

130

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

Light pink glass, as before mentioned, was however occa-
sionally used as a flesh-colour, and on the continent until
late in the style. It is not uncommon to find the faces
of the larger early figures in this country composed of pink
glass, with white hair and beards leaded in. A practice,
which has been mentioned, of tinting the naked parts of
the figures with a thin wash of an enamel colour, resem-
bling China red, applied to the back of the 'white glass,
was also introduced here early in the sixteenth century.

The costumes appropriated to saints and ecclesiastics,
differ from those of the last period, rather in their dis-
position and arrangement than in their form.

The mantle is in particular much more ample, and covers
the greater part of the body of the wearer ; and the sacred
vestments are still longer, and more ornamented with em-
broidered borders and diapers.

The mitre is more elongated and more highly enriched ;
in the later examples it a good deal resembles in form the
flat side of a bellows. The head of the staff is also more
elaborated, and often springs from a cluster of little cano-
pies and pinnacles.

The secular female dress, in general consists either of a
close-bodied dress, with long skirts and tight sleeves, or of
a looser dress with sleeves wide at the shoulders and tight
at the wrists. A cloak is often added, upon which armo-
rial bearings (when used) are emblazoned more frequently
than on the other garment. The earlier head-dresses re-
semble the wimple ; their variety however was great, espe-
cially towards, and during the reign of Edward IV.

The secular male costume, until almost the end of Edward
the Fourth's reign, appears to have usually consisted of a

These heads are all executed in white graving of a head, which I should say,
glass ; the hair of some is stained yel- judging merely from the drawing, was
low. Plate 69 and cut 18, represent of the commencement of the fifteenth
heads of the latter part of the reign of century. As a specimen of a sixteenth-
Edward IV. . In Weale's " Quarterly century head, I may refer to plate 72 of
Papers," part II., plate 2, is an en- the present work.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

131

furred gown of tunic-like form, reaching rather below the
knees, slit nearly half way up the middle, and confined
round the waist with a girdle. It had either wide sleeves
narrowing towards the wrist, or small at the shoulder
and wide at the wrist, like those of a surplice. The
legs were enclosed in pointed-toed boots. The hair, until
the latter part of the reign of Edward IV., appears to
have been cropped closely all round, and after this time
to have been cut straight across the forehead, but allowed
to grow long behind, and at the sides of the face, and to
have been there smoothed down like a club. In the reign
of Henry VII., long furred gowns reaching to the feet,
and obtusely-toed shoes or boots were used. They con-
tinued in fashion during the next reign also.

Military figures are represented in plate armour, generally
painted on white glass, and more or less ornamented with
the yellow stain. The character of the armour is often of
an earlier date than that of the painting itself.

4. FOLIAGED AND OTHER ORNAMENTS.

The foliaged ornaments of this period, though probably
suggested by the forms of nature, bear in general but little
resemblance to their original models. They are accommo-
dated with great skill to the particular positions they
occupy, but their outline is so irregular, varied, and con-
ventional, that, as before remarked, they have more the
character of embroidery work than of any thing else. It
would seem that the chief object of their designers was to
produce a decoration possessing breadth and flatness of
effect \

A very common pattern, the use of wThich may be traced
from the beginning of the style until late in the reign of
Henry VI., is a sort of narrow leaf or rather stalk, with
numbers of irregular foliations jutting out from its sides.

1 See plates 58, 59, 61, 63, 64, and cut 22.

132

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

It is employed for a variety of ornamental purposes : and
when used as a ground pattern on white glass, is generally
strongly outlined, and the space not covered by it cross-
hatched, with broad faint lines u. The extremities of the
side leaves are often turned over, and frequently stained
yellow, a practice which is peculiar to this period, and is
often to be met with in the representations of other leaves
and foliaged ornaments.

Leaves are, however, to be seen in this style, strictly
speaking, quite as true to nature as any of those of the last
period, especially in the vine of a Jesse. But even here
the same flatness of effect is perceptible. The eyes of the
leaf are indeed strongly marked, but the indentations of its
serrated edges are faint compared with those of a Decorated
vine-leaf, as well as being less vigorously drawn.

The foliaged details of architectural work, also exhibit
the same peculiarity. Their flatness and breadth of effect,
and variety of outline, in general distinguish them from
those of the last period.

A peculiar kind of ornament is common in German
work late in the style, consisting of knotted sticks, and
a species of leaf entwined and intermixed together. It is
employed in the formation of canopies and bowers, fre-
quently in conjunction with architectural details ; and a
similar species of ornament may be met with in English
wood carvings, of the early part of the sixteenth century.

Scroll-works are of rare occurrence during this period,
except in the design of a Jesse. This is generally exe-
cuted on a coloured ground, the principal branches and
leaves of the vine being white or yellow ; when on a blue
ground some of the leaves are often drawn on the blue
glass, and stained to a green colour.

A great variety of flowers were represented during this
style, especially towards its close, when punning allusions

11 See plates 18, 64, 63, and 58.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

133

to the bearer's name were common in rebusses and heraldic
devices. They are in general very accurately drawn. The
lily as a symbol of the Virgin Mary, is often to be met

Cdt 19.

In the possession of Mr. Fletcher.

with in borders and other decorations. The rose is also
a very common ornament, and is cut 20.

more usually represented double
than single. The leaves are almost
universally lipped, or turned over x.
After the accession of Henry VII.
the inner row of leaves is often
white, and the outer red. And at
all periods of the style double roses,
executed on white glass, often had
their outer row of leaves stained
yellow.

x See cut 20; this specimen is taken Henry VII. Cut 19 is from an ex-
from a border surrounding the arms of ample of the latter part of the fourteenth

134

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

Shading was very generally employed to heighten the
effect of foliaged ornaments.

Cut 21.

Mells Church, Somersetshire.

Many of the Decorated ornaments, such as the beaded
ornament, the cross ornament, &c, are to be found early
in this style. They were, however, soon exchanged in
draperies for jewelled bands, often having a hatched
ground j and in narrow borders, for a broader and lighter
ornament, composed of a row of small irregularly-drawn
circles in outline, having a smaller circle at their centre,
and enclosed within a narrow edging on either side, which,
as well as the circles, was generally stained yellow y.

century ; it closely resembles the roses pletely, the Decorated character.

in plate 15, and possesses, almost com- y See cuts 21 and 23, and plate 70.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

135

The same flatness of effect and irregularity of outline,
which have already been noticed, extend to the representa-
tions of lions' heads z, and, in fact, to all the other orna-
ments of this period a, including the patterns on quarries b.
The variety of these last devices is immense ; and their
form is not always a sure indication of their date, since the
same pattern often occurs both on late and early quarries.
In general, however, a strongly-outlined pattern is the
badge of an early quarry, but early patterns are often like-
wise slightly outlined. Some of the most extraordinary
are those bearing a caricatured drawing of a bird or animal,
which is sometimes represented in armour, sometimes har-
nessed to a plough, or holding a drinking-cup, &c. The
most beautiful are those ornamented with a simple pattern,
confined to the central part of the quarry, producing the
effect of a star c. The ornament on the quarry is generally
enriched by the application of the yellow stain.

Circular wreaths were often used during the latter part
of this style to enclose arms, monograms, or other devices.
They are composed sometimes of foliage, sometimes of a
scroll twisted round and round a stick, sometimes of pure
ornaments, and occasionally of an entwined branch with

z See plate 65.

a This flatness may, to a certain ex-
tent, be noticed in the ornaments of even
so early a border as that given in plate
15.

b See plates 19, 60, 61, 61 A.

0 The true office of an insulated orna-
ment on a quarry, — merely to enrich the
reticulated pattern formed by the lead
lines, — is, I think, sufficiently indicated
in those simple representations of win-
dows which, in Early English glass
paintings, the effigies of the donors are
so commonly made to hold in their
hands; and of which an example is given
in Lasteyrie's " Histoire de la Peinture
surVerre," plate XXIX. The objects in
question are generally composed of a
piece of white glass, which is ornamented

with a coarse cross-hatching of black
lines, and with black dots, placed, one in
the centre of each of the lozenges or
squares, formed by the intersection of the
lines. For this reason I greatly prefer an
ornament which, like a spot, occupies
only the centre of a quarry, as in plates

60, and 61 A, to one which is more spread
over the surface of the quarry, as in plate

61. In no glass paintings is narrowness
in the width of the lead more essentia] to
goodness of effect than in quarry lights.
In plate 61 A there is a certain propor-
tion between the thickness of the lines
which form the pattern, and the ancient
lead-work which surrounds the quarry,
while in plates 60 and 61, the pattern on
the quarry is in each case completely
overpowered by the breadth of the leads.

136

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

Cut 22.

leaves sprouting from it, at regular intervals, and extend-
ing considerably beyond the limits of the wreath itself.
They are in general represented on white glass, orna-
mented with the yellow stain.

All ornaments, except in general quarries, and narrow
borders, are usually shaded.

5. Borders.

Some borders, early in this style, closely resemble those
late Decorated examples which consist of a running stalk,
with leaves and flowers sprouting from it, executed in
white, and yellow stained
glass, on a coloured ground.
In these borders, however,
the Perpendicular character
is indicated by the greater
breadth and flatness of the
leaves.

The most ordinary Per-
pendicular border, which
also had its type in the
Decorated style, is formed
by placing ornaments, exe-
cuted on oblong pieces of
white glass, at regular dis-
tances apart, with a plain
bit of coloured glass be-
tween each. A crown,
oftentimes surmounting a
monogram, or a knot of
foliage, enriched with the
yellow stain, is a very com-
mon ornament ; but the
design often varies. Two

Wajilip Church, Leicestershire

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

137

ornaments of different design are generally used alternately.
Glass of the same colour is occasionally employed to sepa-
rate the ornaments throughout the entire light ; in general,
however, the pieces are alternately blue and red, and some-
times blue, purple, and red. In the latter case the pieces
of blue glass on either side of the light are usually made
to range with each other ; while the purple on the one side
ranges with the red on the other. A similar law of colour
prevails in those windows where the border is composed of
a series of ostrich feathers, each with its pen stuck through
a scroll ; though its mode of application is different. The
feathers alternately are represented on pieces of red and
blue glass, which are kept separate by the square pieces of
white glass, on which the pens and scrolls are painted.

Such borders are sometimes carried uninterruptedly
round the head of the light, the ornaments being accom-
modated to the curvature of the stone-work. In general,
however, when as is usually the case, the head of the light
is cinquefoiled ; a circular piece of glass with a sun, a star,
a lion's head, or rose, &c, painted on it, is inserted into
each of the two upper foils, or into the top foil likewise, the
top foil in the former case being filled with one of the orna-
ments of the border. The size, and relative position of the
circles, are regulated by the shape of the arch, and form of
its cuspidations. When three circles are used, they often
closely approximate ; sometimes a little piece of glass, — one
of the colours of the border, — is used to connect them
together. The circles are usually composed of white glass
stained yellow, but they are occasionally blue, or of some
other colour. Sometimes all these circles are of the same
pattern, sometimes that in the upper foliation differs from
the other two d.

d See plates 15 and 19. See also Hedgeland's " St. Neot's," plates X, XI,
Lysons' " Gloucestershire," p. cix ; and XII, and XIV ; (in the tracery lights.)

138

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

Some few instances of heraldic borders may be met with
in this style, consisting of coats of arms, formed into rec-
tangular patches, as in the Decorated style.

In many windows, especially late in the style, the border
of the lower light is entirely represented on white and
yellow stained glass, and consists of a raffle-leaf wound
round a straight stick; of a running stem with leaves
springing from it; or of some conventional ornamental
pattern. These borders are generally furnished with a
narrow edging of yellow stained glass on either side, the
interval between which and the pattern is sometimes filled
in with black paint, or left white.

The earlier Perpendicular borders bear generally the same

Cut 23.

Hells Church., Somersetshire.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

139

proportion to the width of the light as the Decorated, but
the later ones are often much narrower. The strip of plain
white glass which serves to separate the border from the
side of the light, is frequently omitted in Perpendicular
windows. Some Perpendicular pattern windows have no
borders at all, in others a mere strip of white glass is used
as a border. The border seldom extends along the bottom
of the light. In tracery lights, borders similar to those in
the lower lights are occasionally employed; in general,
however, they consist of circles or round flowers irregularly
drawn in outline on white glass stained yellow, and enclosed
within two yellow narrow edgings6. More frequently a
narrow strip of white glass constitutes the only border to
the light.

6. Patterns.

In some very early Perpendicular works, patterns are
used, which are composed of white quarries with a running
foliaged scroll carried over them in outline, and enriched
with the yellow stain, as in late Decorated examples.
With these exceptions, however, Perpendicular patterns
are, in England, universally formed of quarries of white
glass, each bearing some independent ornament, which
is generally enriched by staining it yellow f.

Quarries banded on their two upper sides are not un-
common, especially in early work. In late work sometimes
a narrow edging is carried all round the quarry. In some
examples the quarry, besides bearing an ornament in its
centre, has its sides indented like a leaf.

e The border represented in cut 23 is white glass,
that of a tracery light ; the centres of the Another border of the same kind is

little circles are yellow as well as the given in cut 21, and in plate 70.
outer edges of the border, all the rest is f See plates 15 and 19.

140

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

The quarries in the lower lights of the same window are
all of the same size, and in general bear the same pattern ;
the exceptions seem to be where quarries on which birds are
represented, are intermixed with quarries having a stiff orna-
ment painted on them, or where letters or mottos are used
to adorn the quarries. The quarries in the tracery lights
are sometimes smaller, and bear a different pattern to those
in the lower. The lights, both upper and lower, are as
before mentioned, often furnished with borders. In some
windows occupying very lofty situations, the lower lights
are furnished with ornamented borders, but are glazed
with plain unornamented quarries of white glass.

It was a common practice towards the latter part of the
fifteenth century to insert into the lower lights of a pattern
window, mottos, or texts of Scripture, painted on strips of
white glass extending diagonally across the window in a
downward direction parallel to the quarry lines. These
strips of glass are sometimes simply edged with yellow,
sometimes scroll -like terminations are given to them. They
are usually placed at an interval of one or two quarries
apart, and the same motto or text is generally repeated on
each scroll, throughout the same light, and sometimes on
each scroll throughout the windows. Ornamented quarry
lights are not unfrequently enlivened by the insertion, quite
independently of the arrangement of the quarries, of small
circles of white glass, enriched with the yellow stain ; and
enclosing within a plain or ornamented border, monograms,
badges, emblems, or other devices. The border of the
circle is often composed of two sticks, or bands, the one
white, the other yellow, entwined together. Until the end
of the reign of Henry VI., the formality of the design was
very commonly corrected by leaves of trees or plants, which
sprouting outwards from the wreath at regular distances,

s See Lysons' " Berks," p. 247.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

141

were delineated upon some of the adjacent quarries. Panels
having a coloured ground, and containing a shield of arms,
a badge, a human head, a demi-figure, or the like, were in
the same manner, but more rarely, inserted in quarry
lights. The form of the panel subsequently to the reign of
Henry VI. , was in general that of a circle, or other regular
geometrical figure. Previously to this time, however, the
panel was often placed in the centre of a beautiful foliaged
ornament of white and yellow stained glass, of star-like
shape, the leaves of which frequently extended themselves
into some of the adjacent quarries.

In Germany, and adjacent countries, the material which
for convenience sake I have termed Mound Glass, was very
generally used instead of quarries. This kind of glass seems
hitherto to have attracted but little attention, but I trust
that a brief notice of it in this place, will not be deemed
improper or useless, considering its intrinsic beauty, and its
importance, either as a substitute for painted glass, or as an
accompaniment to ith.

11 The following mention of Round
glass, occurs in Le Vieil, " L'Art de la
Peinture sur Verre," p. 200.

" Felibien [' Principes d' Architecture,'
chap xxi. de la Vitrerie] etablit pour ex-
emple des vitres blanches les plus ancien-
nes, ce qu'il appelle des cives, telles qu'il
s'en voit en Allemagne, c'est a dire de
petites pieces rondes de verre qu'on y
assembloit avec des morceaux de plomb
refendus des deux cotes, pour empecher
que le vent et l'eau ne pussent passer;
mais sans indiquerle temps oil l'on usoit
de cette sorte de vitres." To this the
following extract from M. Felibien's work,
(Paris 1690,) is appended in a note.

" C'est de ces cives ou cibles dont
Jean Marie Catanee, dans ses Commen-
taires sur Pline le Jeune, dit que de son
temps, c'est a dire, vers la fin du quin-
zieme siecle, ou se servit pour chasser
des maisons, en Italie, l'aprete des vents
froids par un assemblage de plateaux de
verre, ronds, reunis et joints ensemble
avec une espece de mastic. Sicut nostrd
tempestate vitreis orbibus congluiinatis

frigus et ventos arcemus."

M. Le Vieil in another part of his
work, p. 17, n. (a) adds, that the round
pieces of glass are called by the German
glaziers " cibles." But cible is a French,
and not a German word, signifying a
target having a bull's eye in the centre.
The German word " scheibe," in one
of its significations, " a mark to be
shot at," may answer in German to
cible : but scheibe as applied to glass
does not necessarily mean a round pane,
but any pane of glass. Accordingly in a
French and German dictionary, " cives"
are explained as "runde Glasscheiben."
" Zwiebel" (onions or bulbs) would
answer exactly enough to cives, and this
may be the word which M. Le Vieil
erroneously writes " cible." But I can
find no authority for applying zwiebel, to
any kind of glass.

A window glazed with round glass is
represented in the Van Eyck, in the
National Gallery, which painting bears
date 1434. Two other Van Eycks in
the king's palace at the Hague (nos. b.

142

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

Representations of round glass frequently occur in the
paintings of John Van Eyck, and other early artists, from
which we may infer that it was used at least as early as the
commencement of the fifteenth century. It is now very
commonly to be met with in Germany from Cologne east-
ward, throughout the Tyrol, and Switzerland, and, as I
have been informed, in Rome also. Venice, and the
north of Italy, are full of it. The close resemblance
which the panes bear to Venetian glass, both in texture
and colour, and the countries in which they are found,
have induced me to conclude that the round glass was a
Venetian manufacture.

Each pane of round glass, is a miniature sheet, or table,
of white flashed glass. The mark of the punt or bull's eye
is in general distinctly visible in the centre of the sheet, the
surface of the sheet is more or less undulated in concentric
rings, and its outer edge, like that of the foot of a Venetian
drinking-glass, is strengthened by a narrow lip, or rim,
formed by turning down a small portion of the sheet upon
itself, and which is in general hidden by the lead- work. The
panes used towards the end of the fifteenth century, and

1370, d. 1441,) exhibit windows glazed
with round glass. And abundance of
similar examples may be found in most
collections of early paintings. Round
glass is represented in a painting by
John Schoreel, A.D. 1520, of which there
is an engraving in the second vol. of
Shaw's "Dresses and Decorations of the
Middle Ages." The little windows in
the tabernacle-work of German glass
paintings, are sometimes depicted as if
glazed with round glass; instances of
this may be seen in the windows of the
north aisle of the nave of Cologne cathe-
dral. A Cinque Cento glass painting,
engraved in Lasteyrie's " Histoire de la
Peinture sur Verre," plate LXXIII, also
exhibits in its background a circular
window glazed with round glass.

I do not recollect to have met with any
ancient example of round glass in Eng-
land, except in a window of the bishop's

chapel, Chester cathedral, which looks
into the cloister. The architecture of the
window itself is late Perpendicular. An
exterior view of the window, in which
the round glass is indicated, is given in
Prout's "Antiquities of Chester." In
the woodcut representing Cranmer's
Confession of Faith, in St. Mary's church,
Oxford, March, 1556, in Fox's "Acts
and Monuments," fol. Lond. 1576, p.
1781, the windows are clearly filled
with round glass. The architecture is
however evidently not taken from St.
Mary's ; it is precisely similar to that
in another cut, p. 571, representing a
scene at Rouen, in which round glazing
likewise occurs. No inference can there-
fore be drawn from this cut, that the
windows of St. Mary's, Oxford, were ever
glazed with round glass. These wood-
cuts are perhaps the work of German
artists.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

143

early part of the sixteenth, in general average four inches in
diameter, and this seems to have been the size of the older
specimens. They afterwards gradually increased to upwards
of six inches in diameter, and as they increased in size they
became smoother, and smoother, until the bull's eye and
concentric undulations were almost invisible. It is indeed,
owing to their smoothness, extremely difficult to distinguish
the later specimens from the circular pieces of plain white
glass, which appear to have superseded the use of the round
glass about the close of the seventeenth century1.

The earliest mode of arranging the panes of round glass,
was to place them, touching each other, in continuous rows ;
in such wise that the rows, if regarded as vertical rows,
would be parallel to the sides of the rectangular glazing
panel; or to its ends, if considered as horizontal rows.
The little four-cornered interstices thus left between the
panes, were filled either with plain pieces of white, or
coloured glass, or sometimes ornamented with quatrefoils,
painted on coloured glass. The later, more common, and
most pleasing arrangement of the panes, is that represented
in plate 75. The small three-cornered interstices between
the circles, are sometimes filled with plain coloured glass,
but much more frequently with plain white glass. It was
also a common practice to introduce at intervals, up the
centre of a light thus arranged, little coloured stars; by
filling the six interstices immediately around one of the
central panes, with plain pieces of coloured glass ; all the
other interstices throughout the light being filled with plain
white glass. The number of stars diners according to the
length of the light. In some instances every sixth central
pane, counting from the bottom of the light, is thus sur-

i Some of the windows of the Doge's
palace at Venice, have been repaired, by
inserting circular pieces of ordinary white
glass in place of such of the round panes

as have been broken. I have ground for
believing that the manufacture of round
glass was discontinued about a hundred
and fifty years ago.

144

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

rounded with colour, but the stars are often further apart.
Each star alternately is in general red, light blue, or purple.
The dots of colour thus introduced produce an extremely
beautiful effect; they enrich the round glazing, without
diminishing the breadth or harmony of its appearance.

A third mode of arranging the round panes may be seen
by looking sideways at plate 75 ; and treating what are in
fact the sides, as the ends of the glazing panel. This
arrangement of the round glass is however neither very
pleasing, nor very common. The interstices between the
panes when thus arranged, are generally filled with white
glass.

Some few examples exist, where the round panes have
been cut into hexagons, and leaded together, which how-
ever does not produce a good effect.

Lights glazed with round glass are in general surrounded
with a border, consisting in the earlier examples, of coloured
as well as white glass, but in the later, almost always of
white glass ornamented with a pattern, and enriched with
the yellow stain. Of these, an instance is given in plate 75.
In many cases round glass is employed to fill up a light
partly occupied with a coloured picture, as for example in
the windows of St. Peter's church, Cologne, &c. In all
those cases in which it is thus used, the picture is termi-
nated as nearly as possible with right lines ; in order not
unnecessarily to embarrass the glazier in cutting the round
glass to it.

Round glass in its general effect resembles mother-of-
pearl, being at once soft, silvery, and brilliant. Many
continental buildings are entirely glazed with it, and its
appearance is so delicate, and ornamental, that the absence
of painted glass is not felt. The most brilliant specimens
are the oldest ; the deeper undulations of the old panes,
caused by the comparative rudeness of the manufacture,

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

145

occasioning a greater play of light than is exhibited by the
smoother and later glass.

The round glass of the close of the fifteenth century, and
afterwards, has a yellow tinge ; the earlier examples are of
a greener tint.

7. Pictures.

In Perpendicular glass paintings the pictures are in
general simple in their arrangement and composition. The
design, unless it extends over the whole of a window con-
sisting of many lower lights, seldom embraces many figures.
The action of the piece is usually expressed by the figures
in the foreground, there being but little attempt to carry
it into the background of the picture. The earlier pictures
are in general of small size, being confined to the limits of
a single light. They are sometimes individually enclosed
within a sort of architectural frame-work, or panel; or
placed under a low-crowned canopy : all executed in white
and yellow stained glass. Sometimes however the subjects
are separated from each other only by a saddle-bar. The
figures are generally executed in white and coloured glass.
When the scene is not laid within a building, a landscape
is introduced behind the figures, drawn in very sharp per-
spective, and principally composed of white glass ; on which
grass, rocks, trees, houses, and other objects are represented,
either simply with the brown enamel, and the yellow stain,
or on pieces of coloured glass leaded in. The former is
however the commonest method. The sky above is treated
as a coloured ground, being often in alternate panels, red
or stiff blue, and frequently diapered. An inscription expla-
natory of the subject, is often introduced on a scroll into
the picture, or along its basej.

j See for instance Hedgeland's " St. " Histoire de la Peinture sur Verre,"
Neot's," plates I, IX, XVI. Lasteyrie, plate LIV. See also a representation of

146

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

Towards the end of the fifteenth century the pictures
often extend into two or more of the lower lights of a
window, or even occupy its whole area, becoming more
complicated in design according to the space they cover.
They are sometimes included under canopies, or an archi-
tectural frame-work, of white and yellow stained glass, but
as frequently reach quite up to the stone-work of the
window, without any intervening ornament k. The figures
are generally so disposed as not to be cut by the mullions.
It is wonderful indeed how little the frame-work of the
window interferes with the effect of the picture, even when
it extends over the whole window : the mullions are really
not more observed than the saddle-bars, the whole atten-
tion being attracted to the picture.

Considerable pains were in general taken towards the
close of the fifteenth century, and during the remainder of
the style, to render the landscapes more pictorial. Thus
the extreme distance was often represented by light blue
glass varied in tint by the shading, and the yellow stain ;
whilst the sky above was likewise coloured light blue, and
shaded so as to appear cloudy in places. As the style ad-
vanced, the sky at the top of the picture was made of a
deeper blue than the sky just above the horizon, the hori-
zon itself being kept distinct, and of a darker colour than
the sky by shading the blue glass, and applying the yellow
stain to it. Sometimes the horizon is defined with a lead
line. In other examples a piece of white glass is inserted
between the horizon and the blue clouds, and shaded so
as to appear like an interval of clear sky. The sky is how-
ever occasionally converted into a plain white background,

one of the compartments of the east
window, York minster, in Fowler's
" Mosaic Pavements, and Stained
Glass."

k See Lasteyrie, " Histoire de la Pein-

ture sur Verre," plate LXIV. This glass
is, however, rather Cinque Cento, than
Gothic: but it may be cited as illus-
trative of the text.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

147

which produces a brilliant and clear effect when the picture
itself is richly coloured, and coloured portions of the design
are carried high above the horizon. This practice seems to
have been most resorted to, when from the absence of a
canopy above the picture, the want of white glass to relieve
the other colours would otherwise have been felt.

In the more pictorial landscapes the effect of distance
in the background was increased by introducing the most
powerful and vivid colours chiefly into the foreground : but
this rule was often transgressed, very vivid and strongly-
contrasted colours being frequently used in the draperies of
the most distant figures, and in other objects the furthest
removed from the spectator. In the colouring of a Perpen-
dicular glass painting harmony of effect seems to have been
the principal object aimed at.

Scriptural and other subjects executed in brown and
yellow on small circles of white glass, were very commonly
used towards the close of this style, especially during the
sixteenth century. Their composition is often extremely
good, and they are in general as admirably painted. They
are frequently surrounded with beautiful borders of scroll-
work or foliage, sometimes composed of coloured glass, but
more usually of white glass enriched with the yellow stain1.

8. Canopies.

The earliest Perpendicular canopies possess many Deco-
rated features, both in their general form and details ; the
tabernacle-work, however, instead of being formed of
coloured pot-metals as in the Decorated examples, is com-
posed of white and yellow stained glass, pot-metal glass
being used only for the interior of the windows of the
canopies, and sometimes for the groining of the niches.

1 See a Cinque Cento example, plate 24.

148

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

Some canopies early in the fifteenth century are repre-
sented, like the Decorated, flat-fronted, with a straight-
sided gable over a large pointed, or circular arch, which
covers the figure : the tower of the canopy rising from
behind the gable. The crockets and finials are of Deco-
rated character m, but the canopy itself more frequently
terminates in a sort of pepper-box, or polygonal roof, than
in a spire. The side jambs of the canopy are generally
flat-faced, and ornamented with long rectangular shallow
sunk panels : the sides of the pepper-box being often
panelled in a similar manner. The head of the canopy
reposes on a coloured ground ; the canopy sometimes has a
pedestal, of open-work, quite unlike the heavy stone pede-
stal which occurs in the architecture of the time; being
formed of detached pillars and arches, behind which' a
scroll bearing an inscription, or the name of the personage
intended to be represented, is introduced. The top of the
pedestal, which forms the floor of the canopy, is generally
paved, and represented in very sharp perspective. In the
majority of cases, however, the pedestal is omitted, and the
figure rests its feet on a piece of turf, or apparently on a
floor seen edgewise; the canopy terminating abruptly at
bottom with the line of the saddle-bar, and another canopy,
or a panel containing another subject being placed imme-
diately beneath it. No attempt is made to represent the
hollowness of the niche. The groining of the canopy is
not shewn, and the whole space between the figure, and
the architecture, is filled up with a flat-coloured diapered
ground.

In other examples of the same date as the last, the head
or hood of the canopy is three-sided, and projects over
the figure. Each front is gabled, and crocketed, and fur-

m Pinnacles like that represented in This last example is however purely
plate 53, are common in early Perpen- Decorate 1, though very late in the style,
dicular work. See also plate 15, fig. 2.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

149

nished with pinnacles at the angles. The tower of the
canopy has likewise three projecting fronts, and terminates
in a lofty spire. The coloured ground on which the head
of the canopy is placed, shews itself in all the interstices
between the little spires and pinnacles and body of the
canopy; and the little windows in the tower being in gene-
ral coloured red or blue, it appears at first sight as if a good
deal of colour w~as introduced into the head of the canopy
itself, though in reality its architectural parts are only
composed of white and yellow stained glass. The canopy
sometimes has a pedestal, similar to that last described,
but whether this be the case or not, its floor is shewn in
sharp perspective. The groining of the niche is sometimes
indicated, but in such a manner that the ribs, &c, appear
almost as an appendage to the front face of the hood. The
hollowness of the niche is not shewn, the space between
the architecture and the figure being filled up with a stiff
diapered ground of colour.

The Decorated architectural details were entirely super-
seded by the Perpendicular, early in the fifteenth century,
but the last-mentioned form of canopy continued in general
use, without any material alteration, until the end of the
Perpendicular style. The head of the canopy was always
more or less elongated according to circumstances, but
soon after the commencement of the fifteenth century, it
became more massed and compacted together, and its
architecture more confused; arches, buttresses, cornices
and pinnacles being multiplied, with, as it would seem, the
sole object of filling up an allotted space, without reference
to the means of support. Owing to these circumstances,
the head of a later canopy presents a greater and a broader
mass of white and yellow stained glass than an earlier ex-
ample, fewer interstices being left amongst its spires and
pinnacles, &c, for the occupation of the coloured back-

150

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

ground. Throughout the style the daylight appears to
proceed from the middle parts of the canopy, each of its
side fronts being in shadow, as well as all but the front
faces of the pinnacles at the angles, &c. Scarcely any
attempt was made until the end of the reign of Henry VI.
to represent the hollowness of the niche : although the stiff
coloured ground which surrounded the figure, was latterly
often fringed at bottom like a curtain of tapestry. In the
reign of Edward IV., however, the groining-shafts were
often exhibited at the back of the niche, the intervening
spaces up to the spring of the groining, which is itself but
slightly indicated, being filled with a coloured ground dia-
pered. Towards the close of the fifteenth century, the
groining of the niche was frequently represented in a con-
spicuous manner, and formed of coloured glass. The back
of the niche down to the shoulders of the figure was often
pierced with windows, through which a landscape, executed
in brown and yellow, is sometimes visible. A piece of tapes-
try suspended from a rod, by means of rings, and termi-
nating in a fringe at bottom, conceals the rest of the back
of the niche. Even in the latest examples, however, the
back of the canopy down to the tapestry rod, is frequently
covered with a stiff ground of colour richly diapered. The
pedestal of the canopy is in very late examples sometimes
solid, but in general is formed of open-work, behind which
a scroll bearing an inscription is often inserted, as before
described. When the light is occupied with only one figure
and canopy, the pedestal of the canopy is often represented
as if it was resting upon the earth, the space at its foot
being covered with flowers and herbage. The pavement on
which the figure stands, is in late examples often formed of
coloured glass. It is however at all times composed of white
or yellow glass, chequered with black; and is shewn in such
sharp perspective that the point where it meets the back of

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 151

the niche, is often as high as the middle of the body of the
figure.

Scrolls bearing passages of Scripture, &c, are to be
found at all times of the style, inserted above the head of
the figure, when a long space intervenes between it and
the groining of the niche n.

It now remains to notice some of the minuter features
of canopies subsequently to the commencement of the
fifteenth century. Soon after this period the larger finials
and crockets assumed a flatter character, and greater irre-
gularity in their outline than the Decorated. The smaller
crockets became in general mere rounded knobs ; and the
smaller finials, simple prolongations of the sides of the
pinnacle, having three trefoils arranged round their base0.
It was usually the practice to shade the pinnacles, and to
take out a narrow bright light up the centre of each pin-
nacle, with other narrow lights diverging from it into the
middle of each of the knob-shaped crockets, and there to
terminate each light in a round ball-shaped spot. The
lights of the smaller windows, and openings of the arches,
are generally cross-hatched, and stained yellow. Saddle-
bars are sometimes represented across the windows. The
shadows in the smaller recesses of the tabernacle-work are
usually strengthened with fine lines, flourished irregularly
about in a spiral formp.

In the latter part of the reign of Edward IV., and subse-

n Plate 16 represents a tracery light cestershire, is represented in Carter's

canopy of the time of Henry VI. See "Ancient Sculpture in England," plate

a very beautiful canopy from the XCIX, and more correctly in the 2nd

church of All Saints', York, Weale's vol. of Shaw's " Dresses and Decorations

" Quarterly Papers," part I. plate 1. of the Middle Ages." See also several

See also ib. plates 3 and 4. See also late canopies from the east window of

Lasteyrie, " Histoire de la Peinture sur Winchester cathedral, Weale's " Quar-

Verre," plates L and LVIII. See also terly Papers," vol. ii.: and some others

a late Perpendicular canopy, Lysons' from St. Neot's church, Cornwall, in

" Gloucestershire," p. cix. A portrait Hedgeland's " St. Neot's."
of Prince Arthur, son of Henry VII., ° See plate 56.
kneeling under a canopy, in one of the v See plate 66.
windows of Great Malvern church, Wor-

152

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

quentfy, the Tudor flower was often introduced as a string-
course in the head of the canopy, the crocket-knobs of the
smaller pinnacles were greatly reduced in size, and the
shadows in the smaller recesses of the canopy were often
heightened with a number of black dots, instead of the
spiral flourishes before mentioned. Towards the close of
the fifteenth century, the crockets, flnials, and other orna-
ments of the canopy, assumed in general a bolder appear-
ance, both in their drawing and shading. The flnials are
more like bunches of leaves, and the crockets more closely
resemble those in the architecture of the time.

When a picture, and not merely a single figure, is placed
under a canopy, the back part of the niche is generally
omitted, and the background of the subject represented in
its stead.

The above remarks apply also to the short canopies
which do not occupy the whole of a light. They differ
from the longer ones only in the shape of their heads, which
are less lofty, and flatter in their termination.

The canopies in tracery lights exhibit the same progres-
sive changes in form and arrangement, as those in the
lower lights. Their heads, however, generally consist of a
simple arch, with a flat-faced crocketed canopy, or gable,
above : though when the tracery light is spacious, the head
of the canopy is often three-sided, and projects forward as
in the larger canopies, which have been already described.
The canopy is painted on white glass, and ornamented with
the yellow stain, and the whole space beneath the arch up
to the figure is generally filled with a flat-coloured diapered
ground q. Sometimes in the later examples this space is also
left white, and is merely shaded dark brown.

The above descriptions apply in particular to canopies
confined to the limits of a single light j the canopies, how-

i See plate 16.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

153

ever, which spread themselves over several lower lights
diner from these principally in their increased size and
arrangement. The heads of the larger canopies are usually
flat-faced, and terminate in an ogee-crocketed top; beneath
is a large wide arch. Sometimes, however, the head is
three-sided like that of a smaller canopy. White and
stained yellow are the prevailing colours of the architec-
ture. In the later examples pot-metals are often introduced
into the groining, and sometimes into the bases and capi-
tals of the side pillars, whose shafts are occasionally com-
posed of sprinkled ruby.

The most beautiful canopies of the kind that I have
hitherto met with, are in Munich cathedral, and I cannot
better illustrate the subject than by immediately attempt-
ing to describe them.

Three canopies, placed one above the other, are in one
of the windows of the choir, — the second on the south side
from the east window, — which consists of five very lofty
lower lights, and a short head filled with tracery. Each
canopy extends across the whole five lights. The head of
the lowest canopy is three-sided, and entirely composed of
yellow stained glass, as are also the jambs of the canopy.
It is terminated at top with a flat string-course, between
which, and the bottom of the next canopy, is a broad
interval, having a red ground, panelled with green, into
which the yellow spires and pinnacles of the canopy run.
The picture beneath the canopy represents an episcopal
saint seated in a Gothic apartment, and surrounded with
a crowd of ecclesiastics, nobles, and soldiers, brilliantly
coloured. The group is brought prominently forward, by
keeping the interior of the canopy in shadow, — the shadow
being deepest immediately under the hood, — and by using
a retiring colour — purple — for the walls of the room. The
windows of the room are seen in the background, the

154

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

vaulting-shafts of the canopy run between them. The
roof of the canopy forms the ceiling of the apartment.
The ribs of the roof are coloured yellow, and the inter-
stices between them purple. The next canopy has a
two-sided projecting front, which as well as the jambs, is
entirely coloured white. Its head is terminated with a
string-course, between which and the bottom of the next
canopy, is an interval of the same width as that above the
lower canopy, having a plain red ground, into which the
white spires, and pinnacles, and interwoven branches of
foliage, which proceed from the front of the canopy, run.
The subject of the picture beneath this canopy is the Cir-
cumcision, executed in rich colours. The group is brought
forward, and disengaged from the architecture in the same
way as the last. The background represents the interior
of a building, the roof of which is formed, as in the other
example, by the vaulting of the canopy. The ribs of the
roof are purple, and the ceiling green. The next canopy,
like the lowest, has a three-sided front, which as well as
its jambs, are composed of yellow stained glass. The
head is terminated with a string-course, as in the former
canopy, above which are the remains of a blue ground on
which the yellow pinnacles &c. of the canopy are repre-
sented. The picture beneath is the Birth of Christ, with
a landscape background; the rafters of the stable, which
are coloured, are very ingeniously contrived to connect
the picture with the architecture of the canopy. This
group, like the others, stands as prominently forward as
the front of the canopy. The effect in this instance is
produced by gradually deepening the colour of the blue
sky from the horizon upwards to the groined roof of the
canopy ; and by keeping the roof of the canopy, the rafters
of the . stable &c, in deep shadow. It is evident that
this last canopy is not in its original position, since the

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

155

heads of the lights immediately above it are filled with a
red ground, on which are represented the white pinnacles
and branches of a canopy like that secondly mentioned.
In the tracery lights are represented the arms of the
donors of the window, and other ornaments, on a blue
ground1-. A considerable interval remains between the
bottom of the lowest canopy, and the sill of the window,
sufficiently spacious to have contained another canopy and
subject of the same dimensions as those described, be-
sides leaving room for an additional subject underneath
it, rather more than half the height of the canopy, and
which we may conjecture to have been supplied by the
portraits of the donors of the window. The singular cha-
racter of this window consists in the alternation of the
white and yellow canopies, and the mode in which their
masses of white and yellow glass separate the different
pictures from each other. I ought to mention that the
general rich colouring of the pictures is, to a certain ex-
tent, carried into the fronts of the canopies by means of
a few large coloured figures placed in niches formed in the
side jambs of the canopy, and in the tabernacle-work of its
projecting front.

The other canopy is in the lower part of a four-lighted
window in the north aisle, — the fourth window from the
west. It has a flat-faced front, with a low gable, all com-
posed of white glass ; above is a broad space, covered with
a red ground, on which are represented the upper parts of
four pair of white twisted branches and leaves, the lower
ends of which are brought down low in front of the gable,
forming as it were a leafy skreen, through the interstices of
which, the gable itself, and the yellow groining, and blue
ceiling beneath it, are shewn. Under this bower is a

r The arms are those of the family of window in 1503. Gessert, " Geschichte
Lewen, one of whose members gave the der Glasmalerei," p. 119.

156

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

painting of the Annunciation. The figures are represented
as within a Gothic apartment, the architecture of which is
coloured purple, and as in the other window, forms the
basis of the groining and ceiling of the canopy. Through
the windows of this apartment a landscape is seen executed
in colours, and with a blue sky. The group is brought
into strong relief, by the mass of shadow which is thrown
behind the figures immediately under the hood of the
canopy. This canopy is evidently of the same date as
the others, though of smaller size. It would appear from
the blue ground beneath it, on which the yellow pinna-
cles of another canopy are represented, that the general
arrangement of this window once resembled that of the
other windows.

9. TRACERY LIGHTS.

The general form of tracery lights in this style being
elongated, figures became the most ordinary subjects for
them.

In the earliest examples the figure is usually placed on
a coloured ground, which is diapered, and often surrounded
with an ornamented yellow border, which impart some-
what of a Decorated character to the design. The earliest
figures are sometimes chiefly formed of pot-metals, but
are more commonly executed in white and yellow stained
glass.

The canopy was however very soon introduced into
tracery lights. The figure is sometimes partially coloured,
especially in the earlier examples, but is more frequently of
white glass, enriched with the yellow stain, and is sepa-
rated by a coloured ground from the head, jambs, and
pavement of the canopy, which serve as a border to the
light, the coloured background to the figure thus being

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

157

surrounded with a broad belt of white and yellow glass.
This effect is not destroyed even when the head of the
canopy is itself on a coloured ground8. The white figure
and canopy, with the intermediate space of colour, con-
tinued in almost general use until the end of the style.

At all periods of the style, however, figures in tracery
lights are to be found represented on a white, or on a
quarry ground, or on a coloured ground usually (except in
the latest examples) separated from the stone-work by a
margin of white glass.

The figures are in general those of saints, cherubim, or
angels, the latter often hold shields bearing arms or the
emblems of the Passion. In the later examples, kneeling
or demi-figures are common, where the light itself is
short*.

The triangular and other shaped openings in the tracery,
of Perpendicular figure and canopy windows, are often
occupied with foliaged patterns11. These in the larger
openings are sometimes executed in coloured glass, but
more frequently in white and yellow stained glass, the
patterns in nearly all cases being rendered conspicuous by
filling round them with black paint, leaving a narrow
edging of white glass around the light next the stone-
workx.

A rose, a lion's head, or a shield of arms, is often intro-
duced in the centre of a quatrefoil, nearly as in a Deco-
rated window. Groups of figures in colours are often to
be found in the larger tracery lights of early windows.
Sometimes the donors of the window are represented in
this position.

8 See plate 16.

* See some examples of tracery lights,
Lasteyrie, " Histoire de la Peintmre sur
Verre," plates LXIX, LXIV, LXVI,
Ly sons' "Gloucestershire," p. cix ; the
tracery lights are in this plate of an

earlier character than the canopies in
the lower lights. Hedgeland's " St.
Neot's," plates VII, VIII, X, XI, &c.

u See plates 18, 54, 63, and 64.

x See plate 54.

158

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

Tracery lights are often filled with quarry patterns, with
or without borders to the light; sometimes a circle with
an emblem, or other subject represented on it in white and
yellow, — and with or without leaves sprouting outwards
from the border of the circle, and painted on the surround-
ing glass, — is inserted amongst the quarries in the centre
of the light. The borders to tracery lights in this style
are almost invariably composed of white glass, ornamented
with the yellow stain. A coloured border is of very rare
occurrence.

In addition to these subjects, white and yellow scrolls,
bearing inscriptions on coloured grounds, as well as almost
every variety of heraldic device, often occupy narrow tracery
lights.

The smaller openings are usually filled with plain pieces
of white or coloured glass.

When a general design pervades the lower lights of a
window, portions of it often extend into the tracery lights
also, to the exclusion of other subjects.
#

10. Heraldry.

The heraldry at the commencement of this period pre-
served its former simplicity, the simple shield only being
employed ; but it would seem that the use of the helmet,
crest and mantling, the crown, the mitre, and the coronet,
together with supporters and the motto, is of rather early
introduction?. The earliest complete atchievements that I
have met with in this country are late in the reign of
Henry VI., after which time they are frequent2.

The shield alone, however, continued in use at all times

7 The indent of a shield of arms, sur-
mounted with a helmet, crest, and mant-
ling, remains on the grave-stone of Sir
Thomas Welsh, or Walsh, who founded
Wanlip church, Leicestershire, in 1393.

1 See plate 21. I saw in 1844, some
earlier examples than this, in the west
window of St. Leonard's church, Frank-
fort.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

159

of the style, and its form affords a good indication of date.
The earliest shields are similar to those at the end of the
former period, but the uprightness of the sides is increased,
and the shield gradually becomes squarer in its proportions,
until at the close of the style it is almost quite square. A
great variety of shapes was introduced in the reign of
Henry VI., and during the latter part of the style ; but it
would be impossible to describe them without the aid of
numerous plates.

The simple shield is employed in all ways, sometimes in
a quatrefoil light surrounded with leaves a, or suspended
from a branch by a strap ; sometimes in a panel at the foot
of, above, or below a canopy, or in the midst of a lower
light of a pattern window, and sometimes by itself, in a
tracery light, held by an angel, &c. At the close of the
fifteenth century a practice arose of enclosing a shield
within a wreath of flowers &c, containing sometimes pun-
ning allusions to the bearer's name ; the whole being in-
serted in the midst of a quarry light. Sometimes the
shield by itself is introduced into the midst of a quarry
light, with or without the addition of a motto on a scroll,
and frequently when in this position it is surmounted
with a crown, or a mitre, and supported by angels or
heraldic beasts.

The more elaborate atchievements are sometimes intro-
duced into a quarry light, with the motto written on the
scroll beneath, or on the quarries themselves13, or on a piece
of glass placed diagonally across the window0. Sometimes
they are inserted in hollow panels, or covered with a
canopy, and introduced into windows in conjunction with
other pictures. When the outer lights of a window are

* See plate 13, which though copied dicular arrangements,
from a late Decorated example, bears a b See plate 20.
close resemblance to many early Perpen- c See Lysons' " Berks," p. 247.

160

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

thus filled, the opposite helmets are usually disposed so as
to face each other.

Heraldry is also occasionally represented on the gar-
ments of the figures, &c. Instances may sometimes be
met with of heraldic borders like the Decorated, to win-
dows in this style. Late in the fifteenth century, and sub-
sequently, badges and initial letters, outlined and stained
yellow, are to be constantly found on quarries or on small
circles of glass, as well as introduced in proper colours in
various parts of windows.

Cut 24.

Ockwell's House, Berks

Cut 25.

The charges in the shield became more complicated in
the later examples, and every
means was resorted to in order
to represent them in their pro-
per colours : whether by leading
in pieces of glass, or by de-
stroying by abrasion the colour-
ed surface of coated glass. In
the more ordinary specimens,
stained yellow and white glass
were often for convenience sake
substituted for the proper heral-
dic colours d. Fulham Palace .

d See ante, p. 29, note to the Introduc- of the close of the reign of Henry VI. ; it
tion. Cut 24 is taken from an example affords a comparison with the Decorated

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

161

11. Letters.

Inscriptions in this style are composed of Black letters,
the capital letters being sometimes Lombardic. The capi-
tal letter, however, whether Lombardic or Black, is, like the
small letters, painted black, and the only approach to illu-
mination that I have seen, consists in either applying a
patch of yellow to it, or painting a small leaf within the
compass of the letter, and staining it yellow6. Open
characters, stained yellow, are commonly used as initial
letters on quarries, &c, but not as capitals to inscrip-
tions. The scrolls on which inscriptions are written are
more flowing in this than in the former style. They often
have a yellow edging, and the letters are frequently applied
to the back, as well as the front of the scroll, so as to avoid
breaks in the inscription.

12. Mechanical construction.

The glass is formed into rectangular glazing panels, and
attached to the horizontal saddle-bars as in the former
style. Great pains were taken to conceal the lead lines as
much as possible ; the vertical leads are generally thrown
into the outlines of the picture, and horizontal leads are
almost invariably carried across the work in front of the
saddle-bars, by which they are entirely hidden. Thus the
necessity of using very large pieces of glass was entirely
obviated. I have met with instances of late foreign canopy
work leaded together in squares, the vertical divisions not

fish in plate 52. Cut 25 is taken from
a specimen of the reign of Henry VII.,
and affords a comparison with the Deco-
rated fleur-de-lis in cut 17.

e Open letters, stained yellow, appear

however as capitals to Black letter in-
scriptions, in some of the engravings of
the glass from the east window, Win-
chester cathedral ; Weale's " Quarterly
Papers," vol. ii.

162

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

coinciding with the outlines of the design, but this is of
rare occurrence.

*#* It has been observed in a former part of this work, that painted
glass, when found in situ, is sometimes useful in helping to determine
the date of the architecture of a window, &c. In Perpendicular win-
dows possessing features not peculiar to any particular period of the
style, the existence of this test is of especial value, since they are at
once proved to be early specimens of the style, if they contain Deco-
rated, or early Perpendicular painted glass, in such positions as will lead
to the inference that they were originally glazed with it. Of this an in-
stance is afforded by the great east window of Gloucester cathedral,
which though of Perpendicular architecture, is filled with late but pure
Decorated glass. It is easy to multiply examples. I shall content
myself with mentioning the following. A small two-lighted Perpendi-
cular window on the south side of the chancel of Tredington church,
Gloucestershire, contains some good late Decorated glass in its principal
tracery light. The Perpendicular east window of the south aisle of
Southfleet church, and a Perpendicular window on the south side of the
chancel of Eynesford church, Kent, respectively contain fragments of
late Decorated, or early Perpendicular painted glass. And to the best
of my recollection, there are some small pieces of early Perpendicular,
if not of late Decorated glass, in the spandrels of the lower tier of lights
of the west window of Tewkesbury abbey church. An opinion seems
to be gaining ground amongst students of architecture, that some of the
most distinguishing features of the Perpendicular style were introduced
at an earlier period than was at one time supposed : and certainly the
existence of Decorated glass in Perpendicular windows, tends to a
similar conclusion.

SECTION IV.

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

The Cinque Cento style may be said to have lasted about
fifty years, viz. from the beginning of the sixteenth century,
until the introduction of the "mosaic enamel mode" of
glass painting ; about the middle of the sixteenth century.

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

163

For a short time, therefore, the Perpendicular and Cinque
Cento styles were concurrent. And if it were not for the
peculiar character of the Cinque Cento ornamental details
it would be a matter of considerable difficulty to distinguish
the Perpendicular glass paintings of the first thirty years of
the sixteenth century, from the contemporaneous Cinque
Cento glass paintings. These examples of the two styles,
especially those of the early part of the sixteenth century,
often bear a considerable resemblance to each other, not
only in their general arrangements, but sometimes even
in the drawing of the figures : there may also be re-
marked in these paintings the same gradual change from
comparative poverty, to richness of colour; and from
hardness and flatness, to softness and roundness of effect.
The Cinque Cento style reached its perfection between the
years 1525 and 1535, a period which may be termed the
golden age of glass painting. During this time, Cinque
Cento glass paintings display in general the most gorgeous
effects of colour, and the greatest contrasts of light and
shade that have hitherto been attained in painted glass
without sacrificing the transparency of the material, whilst
they often possess at the same time considerable merit both
in their drawing and composition. Cinque Cento glass
paintings executed soon after 1535, begin to lose their
transparency and brilliancy, and to become black and
opaque in their deeper shadows, an evil which increased as
the style advanced, and was doubtless occasioned by the
anxiety of the artists to give greater force and effect to
their pictures, by imitating the deep shadows of oil paint-
ings. In point of richness of colour, design, and compo-
sition, the latest Cinque Cento glass paintings are however
not inferior to the earlier specimens.

We may perceive in the superior pictorial qualities of
the glass paintings of the first half of the sixteenth century,

164,

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

as compared with the more ancient examples, the influence
which a progress in one branch of art usually exerts on
others. The close of the fifteenth, and beginning of the
sixteenth century, is almost universally admitted to have
been the period of the highest developement of modern
fresco, and oil colour painting. Glass painting did not then
indeed attain perfection, but it reached a degree of excel-
lence during the first thirty or forty years of the sixteenth
century, which has not only never since been equalled, but
also affords a satisfactory ground for the belief, that if glass
painting cannot boast of possessing examples as full of
artistic merit as the works of the great masters, this defi-
ciency is attributable not to any inherent incapacity in this
system of painting for a display of high art, but simply to
the want of skill in those who have hitherto practised it.

Cinque Cento glass paintings partake less of the charac-
ter of mosaics, and more of the nature of finished pictures
than Gothic glass paintings. This picturesqueness was
produced without resorting to any other expedients than
those afforded by the mosaic system of glass painting. The
limited scale of colour common to that system, was con-
siderably extended early in the sixteenth century, by the
introduction of a great many new tints of coloured glass,
as well as by the single and double application of the yellow
stain to them, and white glass. The varied and harmo-
nious colouring of a Cinque Cento glass painting is however
the result not merely of a skilful disposition of individual
tints, but of taking advantage of the accidental variations
of colour in the same sheet of glass, so as to make the light
parts of the glass coincide, as far as possible, with the lights
of the picture, and its dark parts with the shadows. None
I am persuaded ever understood the principles of colouring
as applied to glass paintings, more thoroughly than the
Cinque Cento artists ; their works, even if regarded as mere

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

165

"maps" of colour, would still be picturesque. Some great
principle of colouring may generally be remarked in them,
tending to counteract the natural spottiness of a glass
painting. The eye is not distracted by capricious contrasts,
but by means of well-arranged leading tints is quietly con-
ducted over the whole design . In point of execution, the
stipple mode of shading was that principally employed
throughout the Cinque Cento style ; smear shading being
however a good deal used in architectural ornamental work.
The stipple shading became much coarser in its grain as
the style advanced, which enabled the artists by this means
considerably to increase the depth of the shadows without
destroying the transparency of the painting. Soon after
the year 1530, a practice was introduced of heightening
the deeper shadows with broad smear hatches of paint, left
unstippled, the cause of that opacity in the later Cinque
Cento glass paintings, which has before been alluded to.
The enamel brown used in the earlier paintings, is of a
cold tone; towards 1520, however, it acquired a fine warm
tint, by which a considerable degree of richness is imparted
to the work. The chief superiority, however, of the Cinque
Cento glass paintings over the Gothic, consists in the ex-
traordinary distinctness and relief of the picture; partly
caused, it is true, by well-defined outlines, and contrast of
colour, but more effectually by powerful and skilful con-
trasts of light and shade. The artifice resorted to may be
most easily detected in those Cinque Cento glass paintings
in which the picture is represented as seen beneath an
archway. The front face of the arch and its abutments,
&c, forms a mass of strong light, and is consequently
brought prominently forward. The soffit and sides of the
archway are however kept in deep shadow. The group of
figures stands just within the threshold of the archway, and
is a very prominent object, on account of its forward posi-

166

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

tion, its vivid colouring, and strong lights and shadows.
In the distance is represented a landscape, delicately painted
on light blue glass, and the space between the horizon and
the archway, is filled with a very clear light blue or grey
sky. This sky serves as a background to the heads and
upper portion of the bodies of the figures of the group, and
by its tint and transparency, throws forward the darkly-
shaded archway, and the group in a most surprising manner,
and at the same time gives great apparent distance to the
background. In this way are produced the greatest effects
of atmosphere that the art of glass painting is capable of.
The same method of ensuring distinctness may be traced in
all Cinque Cento work. It may be observed in figure and
canopy windows, and in glass paintings where the whole
of the window is covered by the picture. The effect pro-
duced is, however, never so striking as when the picture is
represented as seen through, or under, an archway.

The principle of keeping the picture separate and dis-
tinct from the mere ornamental part of the design, is fully
carried out in the Cinque Cento style. The architectural
work, which is principally composed of white and yellow
stained glass, is in general made to form a frame-work, or
setting to the picture, with which it neither interferes, nor
intermingles. In some compositions indeed, the pictorial
part is closely interwoven with the ornamental part, but
when this occurs, it may usually be accounted for by the
peculiar nature of the subject, as a Jesse for instance.

The ornaments of the Cinque Cento style of glass paint-
ing resemble those of the Italian architecture of the six-
teenth century, to which the term "Cinque Cento" is
ordinarily applied. These are principally derived from
the ancient Roman architectural details, such as friezes,
arabesques, and the like. Some Roman ornaments are
directly copied in Cinque Cento work; in general, how-

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

167

ever, there is a playfulness in Cinque Cento decorations
which of itself sufficiently distinguishes them from the
classical. They likewise frequently exhibit the costumes,
and armour of the sixteenth century. The drawing of
the principal figures and draperies in Cinque Cento glass
paintings is in general more nearly allied to the Italian
than to the German manner. Some figures are extremely
grand and severe; and they are almost all far more cor-
rectly designed and executed than the Gothic. On the
whole, however, the Cinque Cento style must be con-
sidered more ornamental, and less severe in its character,
than the Perpendicular style : I am of course speaking
of it as it appears in existing specimens, for there is
nothing in the style itself which is opposed to severity
or grandeur.

In their general arrangements Cinque Cento glass paint-
ings usually exhibit a remarkable unity of design, which is
accomplished sometimes by means of the architectural
work which environs the different pictures ; sometimes
by the manner in which the colouring of several distinct
pictures brought into juxtaposition, is managed, so as to
produce the effect of one connected work.

The figure and canopy window is a common Cinque
Cento arrangement. Sometimes each figure is placed
under a separate canopy; but more commonly they are
all covered by one large canopy, extending across the
window. In either case a panel containing a coat of
arms, or a picture, is often inserted beneath, or even above
the canopy, the tracery lights being filled with angels, em-
blems, heraldry, or other devices f.

In picture windows the arrangement sometimes consists

f See representations of figure and and Lettu, "Description de l'Eglise
canopy windows, Lasteyrie, " Hist, de la Metropolitaine du Diocese d'Auch,"
Peinture sur Verre," plate LXXXII; Nos. 7, 8, 21, 22.

168

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

in entirely filling the lower lights, and occasionally the
tracery lights also, with one subject, unaccompanied with
any canopy or ornamental work. Sometimes in occupying
the lower lights with one general canopy, or open skreen-
work, which includes one or more distinct pictures : the
tracery lights being filled with independent subjects. Some-
times the central part of the window is occupied with one
large picture with or without an architectural framework, the
two outer lower lights being each filled with a figure and
canopy. In other windows, especially those consisting of
five or more lower lights, the centre light is filled with a
figure and canopy, and the outer lights on either side with
a large picture. The tracery lights being in all these in-
stances adorned with other pictures g. Sometimes when a
window consists of three lower lights, a figure and canopy is
placed in the centre light, and all the rest of the window is
filled with heraldry, or with plain white glass leaded together
in geometrical patterns, or, in Germany, with round glazing.
Sometimes an arrangement like the Decorated is resorted
to, one general canopy, or several canopies, including either
a large picture, or single figures, being carried like a belt
across the middle of the lower lights, the space above or
below the belt being occupied with white, or round glass,
as before mentioned. The variety of arrangements in
works of this period is however very great, since amongst
them may be reckoned, in addition to many original
arrangements, almost every combination which has hitherto
been noticed in the examination of the former styles : it is
therefore impossible to do more than just glance at some
of the most ordinary, leaving the rest to be ascertained by
actual observation11.

s See plate 22. See also Lasteyrie,
" Histoire de la Peinture sur Verre,"
plates LXIV, LXVI,LXXVI,LXXVII,
and LXXXI.

h See the engravings of the windows
of St. Jacques church, Liege, in Weale's
" Divers Works of Early Masters in
Christian Decoration."

THE CIRQUE CENTO STILE.

169

In the Wheel windows of this period, the colours are in
general arranged so as to produce the effect of a star, or
rainbow, as the case may be. In the centre opening there
generally is a demi-figure or other picture ; the openings
immediately round the centre are filled with yellow rays ;
and the larger outer lights with demi-angels, or cherubs,
all executed in colours and placed with their heads towards
the circumference of the circle ; the smaller openings being
filled with patterns, or plain pieces of glass. In some in-
stances all the openings except the central one are filled
with ornamental patterns1.

The Jesse windows of this period, are in general ex-
tremely rich and fanciful. The vine generally extends it-
self in graceful curves over the whole of a window, it is
seldom confined within the limits of a single light. The
figures stand upon, or sit on foliaged stools growing out of
its branches. The whole design is sometimes represented
on a coloured, sometimes on a white ground. In the former
case the principal branches are generally white, the leaves
and stools being variously coloured, in the latter the vine is
usually stained yellowk.

The painted glass in the windows of the apsidal choir of
St. Jacques church, Liege, though inferior both in extent and
subject to many othe£examples, may safely be pronounced
to be one of the most splendid specimens of the Cinque
Cento style, and merits particular attention on account of
the excellence of its execution, and brilliancy of its effect.
Its goodness as a specimen of glass painting will be the
more readily appreciated by the student since it has lately
been repaired, and restored to its original lustre by a care-

1 See Lasteyrie, " Histoire de la
Peinture sur Verre," plate LXXII ; see
also Lettu, " Description de l'Eglise
Metropolitaine du Dioce'se d'Auch,"

Nos. 5, and 24.

k See a specimen of a Cinque Cento
Jesse, Lasteyrie, "Hist, de la Peinture
sur Verre," plate LXXIV.

170

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

ful and judicious cleaning. Its principal subject is the
family alliances of the counts of Horn.

There are five lofty windows in the apse of St. Jacques
church, each having its lower lights divided by a transom
into two tiers of three lights apiece. The three lights in
the upper tier of the centre window, are occupied with a
large picture, (the Crucifixion,) and the canopy under. which
it is placed : the lower tier of lights is filled with another
large picture, comprising two subjects, (Abraham offering
Isaac, and the lifting up of the brazen serpent in the wilder-
ness,) and its canopy.

Both these pictures exhibit good drawing and grouping
in the figures, brilliant and harmonious colouring, and a
depth of shadow which could scarcely have been increased
without sacrificing the transparency of the glass. Each is
furnished with a landscape background, and a light blue
sky above, reaching to the arch of the canopy, through
which the picture appears to be seen. A most luminous
effect is produced by this sky, contrasted as it is with the
dark soffit of the archway, and the powerful execution of
the group of figures beneath. The sky in the lower picture
is represented clear and serene, gradually deepening a little
from the horizon upwards j that in the upper picture is
slightly clouded towards the top, doubtless to indicate the
supernatural darkness of the Crucifixion.

The canopies, which are thoroughly Cinque Cento in
design and details, are principally composed of white and
yellow stained glass, and by their mass effectually serve as
a setting to the pictures. Their ornamental character is
increased by the stiff coloured grounds on which their heads
are placed ; that of the upper canopy being deep blue, and
that of the lower bright red.

In the tracery lights of this window are two heads, the
one intended for God the Father, the other for Christ, as

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

171

well as representations of the Holy Ghost, and two cherubs;
these subjects are all executed in white and yellow stained
glass, and placed on bright red grounds.

Each of the remaining four windows has, like the centre
window, its lower tier of lights occupied with a large
picture and canopy, the subjects however being portraits of
members of the Horn family, kneeling and attended by their
patron saints, and angels holding their armorial bearings. The
glass in the upper tiers of lights differs much in its arrange-
ment from that in the centre window. A single figure and
canopy partly occupies the central light, and a small portion
of each of the side lights, in the upper tier of each of these
windows, the remainder of the lights being filled with
shields of arms backed with plain white glass : a more per-
fect and beautiful display of heraldry than this can hardly
be conceived. Many of the arms are furnished with
helmets and mantlings, and the white glass not being
leaded together in any particular pattern, but principally
in horizontal lines, hidden by the saddle-bars, offers nothing
to distract the eye from a contemplation of the bright
bearings, and the varied and elegant forms of the lambre-
quins and crests. The single figures in the central light of
the upper tier, serve to keep up the interest of the general
composition; while the small amount of colour presented by
them and the heraldry together, when compared with that
of the painting of the Crucifixion, serves to preserve the
predominance of the central window. The tracery lights
of the four side windows, contain angels and scrolls, in
white and stained yellow glass on coloured grounds. One
of the scrolls bears date 1525.

I must not omit to mention two other windows, of singu-
lar shape, on either side of the choir next the nave of St.
Jacques. In the autumns of 1843, and 1844, the north
window alone contained painted glass, the contents of the

172

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

south window being, as I was informed, in the cleaner's
hands. The north window is divided into two grand com-
partments by an immense mullion, which runs up the
middle of the window and branches off at top like a Y.
Each compartment has four lower lights, and a head of
Flamboyant tracery. The three lower lights of each com-
partment next to the large centre mullion, are with the
exception of a space at bottom, equal in width to the
breadth of the outer light, occupied with paintings repre-
senting members of the Horn family, — kneeling and at-
tended by their patron saints, — under canopies of the same
character as those in the apsidal windows. The heads of
these canopies are on coloured grounds. The picture is
painted on precisely the same principle, in respect of con-
trasts of colour, and of light and shade, as the pictures in
the east window. The tracery lights forming the central
portion of the head of each compartment, and which,
though not exactly over the tops of the three lower lights,
immediately adjoin them, are filled with angels, scrolls, and
other subjects, principally executed in white and yellow
stained glass, and placed on coloured grounds. White
glass, however, forms the ground not only of the exterior
lower lights of each compartment, and of the space be-
neath the pictures in the other lights, but also of all the
exterior tracery lights in the head of the compartment.
These tracery lights are occupied with angels, letters, &c,
executed in colours; and the exterior lower lights, as
well as the space below the pictures, with heraldry, richly
coloured, principally consisting of shields of arms with
helmets and mantlings. The effect of this arrangement
is completely to cut out, and surround with white, the
coloured central portion of the window, and to make it
harmonize with the general appearance of the windows in
the apse. The space above the fork of the large centre

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE

173

mullion is occupied with a representation of the coronation
of the Virgin, in colours, surrounded by a coloured rain-
bow, composed of pink, red, and blue rows of cherubim1.

A remarkably fine Cinque Cento general arrangement is
afforded by the four windows of the chapel of the Mira-
culous Sacrament, which is on the north side of the choir
of Brussels cathedral. Each of these windows has five long
lower lights and a head of tracery. The lower lights of
each window are filled with a grand Cinque Cento architec-
tural design, terminating at top like a triumphal arch, but
comprising a double tier of open arches separated by a
broad frieze, and principally composed of white and yellow
stained glass. In these glass paintings the principle of
producing distinctness, and atmospheric effect, by strong
contrasts of colour and of light and shade, is carried out in
the boldest and most complete manner. Under, and some-
times partly in front of, the upper tier of arches in each
window is depicted in rich colours a group of figures form-
ing a portion of the legend of the miracle ; the space below
the lower tier of arches being occupied with the kneeling
portraits of the donors of the window and their attendant
patron saints. The front of the whole skreen presents a
mass of light ; but the soffits and sides of all the archways
are kept in deep shadow. A bright grey or azure-coloured
sky is, in every case I believe, introduced in the distance ;
filling up the remainder of the space beneath the archway,
and serving as a background to some of the figures of the
group. The ornamental architectural work serves not only
(as at Liege) as a setting and relief to the pictures, but by
means of its connected design, to produce a general unity

1 The windows of St. Jacques church
have been engraved in a recent publica-
tion by Weale, entitled " Divers Works
of Early Masters in Christian Decora-
tion;" these plates are exceedingly use-

ful as giving the arrangement, the colour-
ing, and general design of the glass, they
however by no means convey an adequate
idea of the effect of the glass.

174

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

of effect. The space above the architectural elevation, and
also the tracery head of each window, is filled with plain
white glass in quarries, but this is not original. Two of
the windows bear date 1546, and the two others 1547.
In mere point of execution these glass paintings are to a
certain extent inferior to those at Liege, since there is a
certain degree of opacity in their deeper shadows, and a
consequent diminution of transparency in this portion of
the picture.

The windows of Auch cathedral, in the south of France,
are not only extremely valuable as collectively shewing the
general arrangement of the glass throughout an entire
building, but as affording a satisfactory proof of the ease
with which in the Cinque Cento style, unity of design in
any particular window may be accomplished by a judi-
cious employment of architectural and ornamental details,
although no visible connexion exists between the principal
subjects of the composition themselves. The richly coloured
glass paintings are confined to the windows of the chapels
which lie eastward of the transept, and to the circular
windows at the west end of the nave, and the northern
and southern extremities of the transept, the rest of the
edifice being glazed with mere pattern windows, possess-
ing but little colour. Some of the pattern windows are of
the seventeenth century, but others are of the same date as
the picture windows in the chapels, which appear from an
inscription on one of them, to have been finished in 1513.

The general character of the latter windows may be
gathered from plate 22, which is a reduced copy of the
window numbered 23, in M. Lettu's excellent work on
Auch cathedral, from which I have principally derived my
information on the subject111.

m A representation of this same win- Its colouring is extremely rich and
dow is given in Lasteyrie, "Hist, de la brilliant.
Peinture sur Verre," plate LXXXI.

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

175

In all except the three windows of the easternmost apsi-
dal chapel, the principal subject has a smaller subject be-
neath it, by which means an uniformity of level is preserved
throughout the whole of these compositions ; the three
windows of the easternmost chapel being somewhat shorter
than the others. The principal subjects of the window
represented in plate 22, the incredulity of St. Thomas, and
Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene, form together one
connected picture. In the great majority of the other
windows, however, the principal subject consists of a row
of three or four independent figures, according to the
number of the lower lights, each light containing a single
figure. These figures are of prophets, patriarchs, sybils
and apostles, and their relative positions can for the most
part be accounted for only by reference to the legends and
doctrines of the Church. In some windows these figures
are treated as independent, each being covered with a sepa-
rate canopy ; in general, however, they either stand in front
of a grand architectural elevation extending across the win-
dow, or in a connected row of niches. In some windows
the unity of the composition is further assisted by the intro-
duction of a curtain behind the figures, supported by
angels, as in plate 22. The Crucifixion in the east window,
and the fall of Adam in one of the side windows, are
treated as at Liege and Brussels, as pictures seen through
an archway. The tracery lights in all these windows are
filled, as in plate 22, with figures, heraldry, ornaments, &c.

The circular window at the west end of the nave has its
eye, or centre light, filled with a half-figure of the Virgin
Mary, the lights which immediately diverge from the centre
are filled with flames of fire, and the outer lights principally
with angels and cherubs. The two other circular windows
are nearly alike. One contains a demi-figure of St. Peter,
and the other a demi-figure of St. Paul in its centre light,

176

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

all the radiating lights being occupied solely with foliaged
ornaments.

The pattern windows have their tracery heads full of
ornaments and heraldry, and their lower lights are enriched
with a border, and filled with plain quarries. As all the
picture windows and some of the pattern windows have
been engraved by M. Lettu, I must refer the reader to
his work for further particulars on the subject.

King's chapel, Cambridge, affords another example of
a general arrangement of windows throughout an entire
building. With the exception of the west window, all the
principal windows of this edifice are adorned with pictures
on glass, which from the original contracts with the glaziers,
still in existence, appear to have been finished about 1531.

The east window contains in its lower lights six distinct
subjects, viz. three in the upper tier, and three in the lower
tier of lights, each picture entirely filling three lights, and
not being enclosed within any ornamental frame-work, but
simply separated from the others by the mullions and tran-
som of the window. These pictures are very fully and
richly coloured. The tracery head of the window is en-
tirely occupied with royal cognizances, and initial letters,
&c, executed in white and coloured glass, and placed on
a blue ground of much deeper tint than the blue used in
other parts of the window11.

The side windows each consist of ten lower lights, dis-
posed in two tiers, and an obtuse head of tracery. The
central light of each tier contains two figures richly coloured,

n A print of the east window of King's
chapel, by the late J. K. Baldry, was
published in 1809 ; it is a faithful repre-
sentation of the drawing of the glass, but
conveys but little idea of its colouring or
general effect. It is to be regretted that
Mr. Baldry did not fulfil his original in-
tention of engraving all the side windows

in a similar manner. I have a sort of
suspicion that the glass in the tracery
lights of these windows is a little earlier
than that in the lower lights. The initials
H. E. in the tracery lights of the east
window seem to have reference to Henry
VII. and his queen, Elizabeth of York.

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE. 177

placed one above the other, and each covered with a Cinque
Cento canopy principally composed of white and yellow
stained glass. On either side of the centre light is a dis-
tinct subject, occupying the two outer lights of each
tier. These pictures are all richly coloured, and ex-
cept in one window are not surrounded with any archi-
tectural frame- work. The tracery lights are filled with
heraldic bearings and cognizances placed on coloured
grounds, deep blue being the prevailing ground colour.
In point of execution, these windows appear weak in com-
parison with those at Liege, there is a want of depth in the
shadows, and consequent want of relief in the picture ; and
the grain of the shading is too fine, which makes the
shadows rather hard. The mass of deep blue in the tra-
cery lights produces a rather heavy effect. Still these
windows will always rank deservedly high as glass paint-
ings ; taken collectively they form indeed the most im-
portant specimen of the Cinque Cento style in this
country. Some of the windows have been lately cleaned,
and are in my opinion greatly improved by the operation0.
A few of the windows which separate the little side chapels
from the main building, preserve portions of their original
glazing. Some of it is in the same style as that in the
large windows, the rest is rather more Gothic in character.
These windows do not appear to have been richly coloured.
Many of the figures in the tracery lights are executed in
colours, and placed on ornamented quarry grounds.

The windows of St. Peter's church, Cologne, demand
attention, since they afford combinations of very beautiful
Cinque Cento picture glass paintings, and patterns princi-

° A description of the subjects repre- eighteen windows, to be completed within

sented in these windows is given in the four years : and that another contract for

"Cambridge Guide," Cambridge, 1831. four other windows, to be finished in

It appears from this authority, that in three years, was made in May, 1828.
April, 1527, a contract was made for

A a

178

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

pally composed of round glass. The central portion of the
three lower lights of each of the three eastern windows,
is occupied with a very considerable mass of painted glass,
consisting of one general subject above, and several smaller
subjects beneath. Thus in the centre windows, the upper
subject is the Crucifixion, below which the portraits and
arms of the donors are represented. The remaining por-
tions of the lower lights are filled with round glass, in
which stars of colour are introduced, as before described.
The tracery lights either contain arms, or are surrounded
with an ornamented border, executed in white and yellow
glass, and filled up with round glass.

A similar arrangement prevails in most of the other
windows of this edifice ; in some only part of the central
lower light, in others the middle portion of all the lower
lights is filled with painted glass, the rest of the openings
as well as the tracery-head of the window being glazed
with round glass. Some of these windows bear date 1528,
1530. The pictures they contain, considered as glass
paintings, are of the highest excellence, being exceedingly
brilliant, without displaying any timidity in their shading,
which is at once clear and effective. The effectiveness of
round glass as an adjunct to painted glass is here fully
developed : it appears to harmonize with it both in colour
and form, far better than ornamented quarries.

Want of room prevents my noticing in detail many other
valuable examples of Cinque Cento glass painting. I must
not however forbear to mention the churches of St. Patrice,
and St. Vincent, at Rouen, both of which contain many
beautiful specimens5; the church of St. Martin, at Liege,
whose seven easternmost windows (some of which bear

p Engravings of some of the glass in Langlois, " Essai Historique et de-
these churches, and also in that of scriptif sur la Peinture sur Verre," 8vo.
St. Godard at Rouen, are given in Rouen, 1832, plates 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

179

date 1527) exhibit a remarkable combination of the most
splendid heraldic compositions and sacred subjects ; and
especially the choir of Lichfield cathedral, the windows of
which are filled with glass brought from the diocese of
Liege, and strongly resembling that of St. Jacques church
in its general character and execution i. The Lichfield glass
is dated 1534, 1535, 1538, and 1539, and though the
relative arrangement of the different pictures has not been
preserved, by which the general effect of the work is
lessened, they are individually worthy of close attention
by every true admirer of painted glass. As glass paintings
they are indeed finer than those at St. Jacques church,
Liege. They are most effective specimens of the art ; the
principle of contrasting colour and light and shade, and
using the architectural frame-work as a relief to the pic-
ture, being fully displayed in them. The clearstory win-
dows of the choir of Brussels cathedral are also very fine
specimens of the Cinque Cento period; they appear to be
coeval with the great west window of that edifice dated
1528, and which with the exception of its tracery lights
is entirely filled with a representation of the Day of Judg-
ment, a work which displays the capability of glass paint-
ing for such subjects1". Some good Cinque Cento glass
paintings, portions of larger works, and as I think, of the
Flemish school, may be seen in the windows of Ashtead and
Gatton churches, Surrey. I cannot conclude these remarks

<i A description of the Lichfield glass
is given in a little work entitled " A
Short Account of Lichfield Cathedral,"
Lichfield, 1843. 5th ed. The portrait of
Cardinal de la Marck in one of the north
windows of the choir, is really a wonder-
ful performance as regards colouring and
execution, and sufficiently proves the
pictorial excellence to which a glass
painting may attain. The glass belonged
to the dissolved abbey of Herkenrode, in
the diocese of Liege. It was obtained by

the dean and chapter of Lichfield in
1802, through the assistance of Sir
Brooke Boothby, who travelling through
the bishopric of Liege, then in the occu-
pation of the French, purchased it for
the trifling sum of £200.

r According to M. le Vieil, the west
window of Brussels cathedral was painted
by James Floris, otherwise Jacques de
Vriendt, brother of the well known
Francis Floris, "the Flemish Raphael."
" L'art de la Peinture sur Verre," p. 42.

180

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

without a reference to the east window of St. Margaret's
church, Westminster, which though at present much be-
grimed with London smoke and soot, may be cited as an
example of the pictorial excellence attainable in a glass
painting without any violation of the fundamental rules
and conditions of the art, and as affording a practical
refutation of the notion that glass paintings must neces-
sarily be confined to mere mosaics possessing hardly any
other merit than that which results from an assemblage
of splendid and dazzling colours s.

I now proceed to examine Cinque Cento glass paintings
in detail, conducting the investigation in the following
order.

1. Texture and colour of the glass.

The glass used in Cinque Cento glass paintings is iden-
tical in texture with that employed in the Perpendicular
glass paintings of the sixteenth century, and it also re-
sembles it in the general lightness and gaiety of its colours.
Many new tints, especially of pink and purple, were intro-

8 A very indifferent print of this
window was published in the "Vetusta
Monumenta," in 1768. The Society of
Antiquaries there state, that this window
was originally intended as a present by
the magistrates of Dort, in Holland, to
King Henry VII. ; that it remained at
Waltham Abbey till the dissolution, when
it was removed to New Hall, Essex; that
it afterwards passed by sale to Mr. Con-
yers, of Copt Hall, Essex, from whence
the inhabitants of St. Margaret's, West-
minster, purchased it in 1758, for 400
guineas.

That the window was however painted
for Henry VIII. and not for his father,
appears I think pretty clearly from the
introduction of the pomegranate, the
badge of Henry VIII. 's first wife Catha-
rine of Arragon, in the upper part of the
window, and also from the figure of

St. Catharine which is placed over the
kneeling effigy of the queen. The style
of the work itself is of the time of Henry
VIII. It is not likely that it should
have been painted after the king's
scruples respecting the validity of his
marriage had arisen, but I think, judg-
ing by the analogy of other examples,
that it is as late as 1526 or thereabouts.
In its general character it closely re-
sembles a window containing the por-
traits of John Draeck (who died 28th
Nov., 1528) and Barbara Colibraut, his
wife, (who died 28th Sept., 1538,) in the
north aisle of the nave of St. Jacques
church, Antwerp.

The harmonious arrangement of the
colouring of the Westminster window is
worthy of attention. It is the most
beautiful work in this respect that I am
acquainted with.

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

181

duced during the Cinque Cento period, as well as a deep
blue of a purple tint, which last was much used in the
draperies, &c, of late works. A very light blue or rather
grey glass, was constantly employed to represent the azure
of the firmament, and also very extensively in landscapes,
and ornamental work, where it is often changed to a light
green, or even a deep yellow by staining. " Sprinkled ruby"
and many kinds of irregularly coloured ruby may be fre-
quently observed in Cinque Cento glass paintings. The
white glass is apparently colourless, but on close inspection
it will be found to retain the light yellow tinge which has
been already remarked in reference to the late Perpen-
dicular white glass. Flesh-coloured glass is uncommon,
white glass tinted with a red enamel like China red
being generally used instead of it. Those specimens of
flesh-coloured glass that I have met with are very light
in colour.

Many kinds of coated glass besides ruby, were used
during this style, and the abrading process was frequently
exercised on them.

It is to the profuse employment of the yellow stain, and
the rich and varied hues it assumes under different degrees
of heat, that the gorgeous effect of Cinque Cento glass
paintings is in great measure attributable. The yellow
thus produced is usually of a fine deep golden colour, it
very often inclines to a deep orange, it is seldom of a pale
lemon tint.

A practice was often resorted to of double staining the
glass, that is, applying the stain twice over, whenever in-
creased depth, or variety of colour was required. By this
means yellow grounds were often ornamented with a pat-
tern executed on them in a still deeper shade of yellow.
The stain was sometimes applied to yellow pot-metal glass,
and frequently to blue and also to ruby and purple glass.

182

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

Blue glass was often subjected to the process of double
staining.

2. Mode or execution.

Dark outlines were constantly employed in the figures of
this period, and great effects were often produced by them,
but being in general used to assist deep shadows, their
presence is seldom remarked. In ornamental work the
chief expression is given by outlines. They are always
full and juicy, and vary much in depth.

The shadows were generally produced by the stipple
method, but smear shading was much employed in orna-
mental work, especially late in the style.

In depth and texture the stipple shadows exactly re-
semble those used in Perpendicular glass paintings of the
sixteenth century, and which have been already described.
In the earlier Cinque Cento paintings the shadows often
are weak and fine in their grain, but as the style advanced
they became gradually darker, and much more coarsely
and boldly stippled. It was the common practice during
the first thirty years of the sixteenth century to heighten
the shadows with a hatching of thin dark lines, which in-
creased their depth without diminishing their transparency;
but soon afterwards broad dabs of unstippled paint were
used instead of the thin lines to strengthen the shadows.

It is to this circumstance that the dulness and opacity of
the later Cinque Cento glass paintings are attributable, for
the stippled ground of the shadow itself always preserved
its transparency, the coarseness of its grain in general in-
creasing with the thickness of the coat of colour employed.
The introduction of the warm brown enamel instead of the
colder tint formerly used for shading, seems to have taken
place contemporaneously both in this and the Perpendicular

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

183

style. It greatly tended to increase the richness of the
painting*.

A light red enamel colour resembling China red was as
before mentioned frequently employed as a flesh-colour on
the naked parts of figures when executed on white glass.
It was usually applied like a wash to the back of the
sheet, and was not suffered to extend over the drapery or
hair. In some cases it was used as a stipple shadow on
flesh-coloured glass, and sometimes as a colour for the lips
and cheeks. It is the only enamel colour used in Cinque
Cento glass paintings besides enamel brown.

Diaper patterns were very commonly used throughout
the style, they are often of very bold design, especially in
tapestry grounds.

3. Figures.

The glass painters of this period certainly surpassed their
predecessors, and their successors likewise, in their technical
knowledge of the human figure. Its form and proportions
are in general well preserved in their works, and their
pictures are often as well executed as designed, a matter of
very rare occurrence in glass painting.

There are however many degrees of merit in the works
of even the best time of the Cinque Cento style. In some,
the figures, besides being exquisitely finished, are simple,
dignified, and full of character : in others, the figures,
though by no means badly drawn, are placed in whimsical
and extravagant attitudes with their draperies fluttering
about in a capricious and unnatural manner, and are
totally devoid of all dignity, or propriety of expression.
Such figures sometimes affectedly gather up their outer
garments with their hands in order more completely to

t See plate 72.

184 THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

exhibit the rich dresses which are underneath. In tech-
nical completeness, however, the Cinque Cento figures are
always superior to the Perpendicular, though they may
sometimes be inferior to them in dignity. Naked figures
of cupids, genii, &c, are very commonly introduced into
Cinque Cento ornamental work, a practice borrowed from
the antique'1.

The heads of the larger figures, from their high finish,
and flatness of effect, bear a considerable resemblance to
those in the oil paintings of the close of the fifteenth and
early part of the sixteenth century. Some of the portraits
possess much of the character of Holbein's pictures.

The features are represented more by well-defined lights
and shadows than by actual outlines, though these were
much used for the sake of giving distinctness and force of
expression. The faces and other naked parts are executed
as before mentioned either on light pink pot-metal glass, or,
more commonly, on white glass tinted with a red enamel :
this colour is often used to heighten the colour of the lips,
and sometimes that of the cheeks, particularly in portraits x.

The hair and beards of ideal personages, saints, or angels,
are most commonly stained yellow, but in portraits are
generally coloured a rich brown, independently of the
shading. Distant figures in a picture are often entirely
composed, faces and all, of light blue glass, shaded with
warm brown, or the red enamel before mentioned : their
hair and parts of their dress being in general stained
yellow.

« See plates 25 and 22. See also a va- &c. Also in Weale's "Divers Works
riety to Cinque Cento figures, in the plates of Early Masters in Christian Decora-
to Lettu's "Description de l'Eglise Me- tion," plates of the windows of St. Jacques
tropolitaine du Diocese d'Auch," also church, Liege, and in Baldry's engraving
in Langlois, " Essai Historique et De- of the east window of King's chapel,
scriptif sur la Peinture sur Verre," Cambridge.

plates 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. In Lasteyrie, x The head in plate 71 belongs to the
™ Hist, de la Peinture sur Verre," plates period between 1520 and 1530. That
LXIV, LXVI, LVII, LXIX, LXX, in plate 72 is perhaps a little later.
LXXI, LXXIII, LXXVI, LXXXII,

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

185

The costumes of this period are, in general, exceed-
ingly rich and splendid from their colouring, and from
the profusion of diapers, borders, and other ornaments
which are lavished upon them. The garments are mostly
lined with a different colour, and are disposed so as to
shew it off as much as possible.

The ecclesiastical dress differs from that of the close of
the former style, only in its ornaments, which are of Cinque
Cento character.

In portraits, the female head-dress is in shape like that
in the pictures of Anne Boleyn, and of the other queens of
Henry VIII., being richly ornamented with gold and pearls,
and confining the hair beneath it. In the pictures of female
saints, sybils, and ideal personages, the hair, even when this
head-dress is adopted, is in general allowed to descend in
long curls upon the shoulders. The most peculiar dress of
this period, and which is appropriated both to saints, holy
and ideal personages, and private individuals, consists of a
garment fitting tight to the body, and having a short skirt
reaching rather below the knees, split up at the sides,
sometimes as high as the hips, and fringed like a tunic.
The whole dress, and especially its body and sleeves, is
usually richly ornamented, and embroidered. Beneath it
is a long garment descending to the feet.

To this costume a cloak is often added, upon which
the armorial bearings of the wearer are sometimes re-
presented.

Another very common dress consists of a tight garment
like that before mentioned, but with long skirts reaching
down to the ground, to which a cloak is sometimes added.

The military dress in portraits consists of plate armour
highly gilt and embossed, like that actually worn at this
period, with arms depicted on the tabard. A more fanci-
ful costume, consisting of a mixture of the dress of a Roman

186

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

soldier, and of a sixteenth century pikeman, being often
appropriated to ideal personages.

The civil costume consists usually of a long robe and
cloak, but the utmost variety prevails in those of ideal
characters, saints, prophets, and angels. In the represen-
tations of the latter the neck is usually exposed, the amice,
of such universal occurrence in medieval paintings, being
wholly omitted. Indeed in the drapery in which saints
and angels are apparelled, there is often a close approach
to the classical7.

4. Ornaments.

The Cinque Cento ornaments are identical with those
employed by Raphael and other great Italian masters of the
sixteenth century in the decoration of their works. They
are borrowed from the Roman arabesques, which they
almost surpass in richness and varied fancy, and like them
impart a peculiar liveliness and freedom of effect to what-
ever subject they are applied.

A complete knowledge of their forms can only be ob-
tained by the eye, it is impossible fully to describe them.

They consist in general of foliages and flowers entwined
together, and intermixed with little genii, cupids, or angels,
which sometimes sprout from the centre of a flower; of
vases richly fluted or embossed, candelabra, fruit, wreaths,
festoons, cords, tassels, and the like. The foliage is prin-
cipally derived from the classical Roman acanthus, and is
frequently used in detached scroll-like portions, terminating
in the heads of birds, beasts, or fish2.

A highly characteristic ornament and of very frequent
occurrence in Cinque Cento work, consists of a row of small

y See the engravings above referred to z See plate 25 and 73. See also the
in note (u). See also plate 22. engravings referred to in note (u).

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

187

rectangular indents, placed at rather more than their own
width apart. It is employed to decorate any narrow flat
surface.

The greater portion of the Cinque Cento ornamental
work is executed on white glass, profusely enriched with the
yellow stain. Many of the smaller ornaments are, however,
very frequently represented in white, on ruby glass, by the
removal by abrasion of so much of its coloured surface as is
required for the ornament.

Medallions with heads or figures on them, executed in
the last-mentioned manner, and surrounded with coloured
wreaths, are also common, as are also coloured festoons
and garlands, bound together with coloured ribands.

A considerable admixture of Gothic details may often be
found in the ornaments of the earlier Cinque Cento glass
paintings.

5. Borders.

Borders are hardly ever used in this style, except in mere
pattern windows. They are generally composed of foliage
and other ornaments executed on white glass, and enriched
by staining. The ornamental pattern of the border is
usually enclosed within a plain narrow white or yellow
edging on either side, the space between it and the edging
being very commonly filled up with black paint, or shaded
dark to represent a hollow, or sometimes left white. The
border is usually separated from the stone-work by a
narrow strip of white glass. Its width in lower lights is
frequently much less than one-sixth of the entire opening.
In tracery lights the borders are sometimes formed merely
of a narrow strip of white glass. Both in lower and
tracery lights, the border often extends round the whole
opening H.

a See plates 2o and 75.

188

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

6. Patterns.

Pattern windows early in the style usually have their
lower lights, and larger tracery lights, filled with orna-
mented quarries b, and surrounded in general with an orna-
mented border of white and yellow glass; the smaller
tracery lights being filled with little devices, such as sacred
monograms, suns, moons, &c, in white and yellow glass,
surrounded with Cinque Cento ornaments, likewise executed
in white and yellow. Later in the style, however, plain
quarries superseded the ornamented, the painted borders
being still retained. Frequently, however, even these were
omitted, and the whole window was filled with plain white
glass, cut into squares, or various geometrical patterns,
defined solely by the leads. In Germany, &c, round glass
was almost always employed instead of quarries or orna-
mental glazing0.

There are many instances of windows in this style whose
lower lights are partly occupied with pictures or heraldry,
and partly with patterns ; or whose tracery lights are filled
with coloured patterns, heraldry, or other subjects, and
lower lights with white ornamental glazing only.

One of the most curious pattern windows that I have
met with, is in the choir of St. Lawrence's church, Nurem-
berg. The window consists of six lights. An ornamented
pillar coloured with yellow and other tints, and on a red
ground, occupies each of the two outermost lights, and a
space in the upper part of the window about equal to the
width of one of the outer lights, is covered with heraldry
and other ornaments. A large coloured festoon suspended
from the pillars stretches across the central lights, which
are filled with round glass.

b See plate 73. e See plate 75.

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

189

7. Pictures.

It was not until almost the end of the first thirty years
of the sixteenth century that the great powers of the art of
glass painting began to be developed, or that glass paintings
attained a picturesque beauty sufficient to entitle them to
rank above mere ornamental decorations. These results
were produced not by the introduction of any novelties into
the art of glass painting as practised in the fifteenth cen-
tury, but by a more skilful employment on the part of the
Cinque Cento artists of the means equally possessed by
their predecessors.

The pictures vary much in size, being sometimes con-
fined within the limits of a single lower light, and some-
times extended over the whole, or a great part of a win-
dow, as was usually the case in all large works. Each
picture is most commonly surrounded with a mass of orna-
mental work, which being executed chiefly in white and
yellow stained glass, serves as a frame to it, and by its
breadth completely insulates it from surrounding objects.
The effect of the shaded soffit of the frame in throwing
back the picture has been already noticed. In many
cases, however, the pictures are separated from each other
only by a mullion or saddle-bar. The pictures are in
general simple in their composition, and seldom contain
more figures than is absolutely necessary. The groups
are usually well formed, and so arranged as to avoid as
much as possible the necessity of cutting the figures and
draperies by the mullions, when the design is on an ex-
tended scale, without at the same time betraying by any
awkardness of position the artist's anxiety to achieve this
object. Colours as positive as those used at any former
period, are freely admitted into Cinque Cento glass paint-

190

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

ings; but instead of the picture being almost entirely
executed with them, as was often the case even in the Per-
pendicular style ; the strong colours are generally qualified
and supported by the introduction of a great many other
tints of less power and vivacity, so as to produce a gene-
ral harmony of colouring throughout the entire work.
Much attention was paid by the Cinque Cento glass
painters to atmospheric effect, and though perhaps they
did not succeed in representing it as completely as they
might have done, they developed the power of the Mosaic
system of glass painting in this respect, in a very remark-
able degree. In the larger pictures, the more striking and
positive colours, are in general most employed in the
draperies of the figures in the immediate foreground ; while
the landscape in the background, and even the more distant
figures, are executed in light blue or grey glass, qualified
and enriched with the brown shading and the yellow stain.
The sky is almost always composed of the same blue sort of
glass, so light in tint as almost at first sight to be mistaken
for the natural colour of the firmament, seen through the
window. This glass is generally left quite clear for some
distance above the horizon, and is gradually deepened by
shading, or the introduction of blue glass of a darker hue,
towards the top of the picture. Owing to these circum-
stances, and to the little use of white glass in the pictures
themselves, — that colour being chiefly confined to the orna-
mental architectural work in which they are set, — Cinque
Cento glass paintings possess but little of the flat mosaic
appearance which is the grand characteristic of the medie-
val glass paintings4.

I have already alluded to the practice of indicating the
supernatural darkness of the Crucifixion by a slightly
clouded sky, which was no doubt suggested by a desire to

cl See the plates referred to in note (u).

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

191

preserve a memorial of so remarkable an incident in such
a manner as should least affect the transparency of the
picture. The clouds are sometimes represented merely by
shading with the enamel brown on blue glass of an uniform
tint, sometimes by using pieces of a darker kind of blue
glass, cut to the shape of clouds, and shaded and leaded in
amongst the light blue of the firmament. In some works
great liberties were taken with the colour of the clouds;
purple and pink glass being freely employed to represent
them. In paintings of the Day of Judgment, the glory of
heaven, and the flames of hell, are generally indicated by
yellow glass.

Great prominence was given during this period to the
groups representing the donors of windows, or benefactors
to the church. The figures, which are often nearly as large
as life, are evidently portraits ; they are usually placed in a
kneeling posture before an altar, and behind each figure
stands its patron saint. The latter is sometimes placed
under a canopy of state, the whole subject being included
within a room or apartment formed by a larger canopy,
through the further arches of which a distant landscape is
not unfrequently shewn6.

In some cases the ancient Gothic arrangement is still
adhered to, the kneeling figure of the donor being repre-
sented in a small compartment immediately below the foot
of a large canopy which covers his patron saint.

Pictures painted on small circles of glass similar to those
which have been already described under the Perpendicular
style, but better executed, are very common throughout
this period. The designs of some of them are extremely
good, and they are in general exquisitely finished. The

e See Lasteyrie, " Histoire de la Pein- Liege windows in Weale's " Divers
ture sur Verre," plates LXXX and Works of Early Masters on Christian
LXXI ; see also the engravings of the Decoration."

192

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

landscape &c. is executed only in brown and yellow, on
white glass, but the naked parts of the figures are usually
coloured light redf.

8. Canopies.

The canopies of this period are generally confined to the
lower lights of a window, and vary in size, from the canopy
which occupies only one light, to that which extends across
an entire window. The general character of their architec-
ture is Italian, with an occasional admixture of Gothic
details; and they are usually drawn in very correct per-
spective.

The niche commonly appropriated to a single figure con-
sists of a semicircular recess, finished at top in a semi-dome
which is usually wrought like a shell, and darkly shaded.
The face of the canopy is flat, the opening being formed
by a semicircular arch springing from a flat pilaster, or
ornamented shaft, on each side. A festoon of flowers, in
general, richly coloured, is often hung across the archway,
and by the vividness of its lights serves to relieve the
mass of shadow in the upper part of the niche, and to
throw the recess back. The architecture above the arch
sometimes terminates abruptly in a horizontal frieze, upon
which foliaged ornaments, urns, genii, heraldry, &c, are
placed. Sometimes a pediment is raised above the arch, &c.
Other canopies are more Gothic in character, consisting of
a recess with a projecting hood of tabernacle-work above,
or terminating in an ogee arch with a finial and crockets.
Others have, strictly speaking, hardly any architectural fea-
tures, the hollow allotted to the figure being closed in at
top merely with arabesque scroll works. In all these cases
the head of the canopy is generally backed with a coloured

' See plale 24.

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

193

ground, its architecture being principally executed on white
and yellow stained glass. The side pillars are often made
of sprinkled ruby, and furnished with light blue, purple, or
green capitals and bases. The interior of the niche is
sometimes entirely lined with coloured tapestry. In gene-
ral, however, the tapestry does not ascend above the head
or shoulders of the figure, where it is suspended from a
rod. In this case the back of the niche above the tapestry
is sometimes pierced with windows, which occasionally ex-
hibit Gothic tracery. The hollowness of the recess is very
commonly represented by a shadow. When the light is
narrow, and the pilasters of the canopy broad, the figure
often appears to be too wide for the niche, and to stand in
front of it, rather than within it, the pilasters being partly
concealed by the drapery of the figure. The canopy some-
times has a projecting pedestal; in general, however, it
restsaupon a flat horizontal frieze g.

The larger canopies which extend over several lights
when enclosing a single subject, as a group of benefactors,
&c, often convey the idea of a room, the exterior of one
of whose sides is represented by the front of the canopy.
This in general consists of an architectural elevation resem-
bling a triumphal arch, highly enriched with bas-reliefs,
&c, and terminating in a kind of pediment. The interior
of the room is seen through the arch, and in it is repre-
sented the principal subject. A landscape background is
often shewn through the arches or windows of the further
sides of the room, the architecture of which is executed in
some retiring colour, as purple for instance h.

Canopies, in the true sense of the word, are not however
of common occurrence in Cinque Cento work, when the

s See examples Lettu's " Description
de l'Eglise Metropolitaine du Diocese
d'Auch," Nos. 7, 8, 21, 22.

h See a good instance of this in one of

the engravings of the Lie'ge windows
in Weale's " Divers Works of Early
Masters in Christian Decoration."

194

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

design is of an extended nature. An architectural skreen,
or elevation stretching over the whole of the lower lights of
the window, and furnished with spacious archways for the
reception of pictures, is constantly employed, when it is in-
tended to represent in the same window either several dis-
tinct subjects, a row of insulated figures, or one principal
design, with its accompanying incidents.

This skreen, though often of considerable depth, is flat-
faced, and usually consists of an assemblage of great and
small arches placed in tiers and supporting one another.
It terminates in general in a pediment, the top of which
is sometimes decorated with genii, cupids, &c, holding flags
and banners, and is commonly backed with a stiff coloured
ground. Sometimes however the head of the skreen is backed
with plain white glass, leaded together in rectangular pieces;
the horizontal leads being in general concealed by the sad-
dle-bars. The architecture of the skreen is almost wholly
composed of white and yellow stained glass, and appears
like sculptured white marble, decorated with gilding, when
contrasted with the gay colours of the pictures which
occupy the spaces enclosed by its arches, &c. The soffit
and sides of each archway are kept in deep shadow, and
being brought into immediate contrast with the bright
sky of the picture materially help to produce that effect of
distance and atmosphere which is so remarkable a feature
of a Cinque Cento glass painting. The soffit of the arch
is that part which is most deeply shaded s but the mass
of shadow is in general relieved by lights reflected against
the ornaments sculptured on its face y and sometimes by
a festoon of flowers and fruit, usually richly coloured,
which is hung across the front of the arch. A similar
festoon is sometimes suspended across the other side of
the arch, and is represented in deep shadow against the
bright sky of the picture.

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

195

Thus in a Cinque Cento painted window, the deep
shadows of the architectural skreen increase the effect
of the pictures, whilst the front of the skreen forms a
mass of ornamented white glass which serves to separate
the pictures from each other. At the same time the
connected character of the architectural composition gives
unity and grandeur to the whole design'.

9. Tracery Lights.

In many early Cinque Cento examples single figures
executed either in white or coloured glass are placed in
tracery lights, being surrounded with an ornamented
quarry ground. Borders of any kind are seldom used
in these lights. The most common subjects for tracery
lights throughout the style are, saints, angels, cherubs, &c,
either richly coloured, or executed only in white and
yellow stained glass ; riband-like scrolls bearing inscrip-
tions, heraldry, emblems, initials, &c, executed in white,
yellow stained, or coloured glass, and placed on plain
white or coloured grounds k.

When the tracery lights are spacious, they occasionally
contain coloured figures on plain white grounds, surrounded
with a broad border of coloured clouds. A general design
is sometimes introduced, extending over the whole tracery
head of the window. Arms, when the lights are small and
narrow, are frequently split into two portions and repre-
sented in two adjacent lights. Sometimes the shield is in
one light, and the supporters in two other lights.

In pattern windows the tracery lights are often filled

1 See plate 22. See also Lettu's
" Description de l'Eglise Me'tropolitaine
du Diocese d'Auch," Nos. 6, 8, 9, 10,
11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21.
See also Lasteyrie, " Histoire de la
Peinture sur Verre," plates LVII,

LXIX and LXXVII.

k A variety of tracery lights may be
seen in most of the plates already re-
ferred to, especially in those belonging
to M. Lettu's work.

196

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

with foliaged ornaments, usually executed in white and
yellow stained glass, cyphers, &c: sometimes with orna-
mented, or even plain quarries, geometrical glazing, or
round glass. In these cases the light, when wide, is gene-
rally enriched with an ornamented border of white and
yellow stained glass.

10. Heraldry.

Heraldic devices constituted a very extensive and promi-
nent branch of the decoration of this period. The shield,
with its various accompaniments of helmet, crest, mantling,
collars of orders, motto, &c, frequently forms an important
part of the general design of a window, being supported
by an angel and placed beneath a canopy. It is however
more commonly represented with its accompaniments, on
a ground of plain white glass, sometimes leaded together
in a geometrical pattern, and sometimes in horizontal lines
parallel to the saddle-bars, in which case the whole design
on account of the clearness of the white glass, and the
apparent absence of lead -work, is apt to appear as if sus-
pended in the air. An heraldic design of this nature is
not always confined to the limits of a single lower light,
but occasionally extends itself beyond, the shield and helmet
being in one light, and its mantling &c. carried into the two
adjacent lights. The shields exhibit almost every variety
of shape ; they are often charged with numerous and com-
plicated quarterings : lozenges are frequently used for the
bearings of females.

The mantlings and scrolls are very spirited and graceful,
and the helmets, crowns, coronets, &c, are very delicately
and vigorously designed. The gorgeous nature of Cinque
Cento decoration is strongly exemplified in the latter objects,
which are highly enriched with pearls and jewellery, and the

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

197

single and double application of the yellow stain1. Very
beautiful foliaged wreaths, sometimes bound about with a
riband, and executed either in colours, or in white and
yellow only, are frequently employed to surround the simple
escutcheon m.

Initial letters of considerable size, formed of yellow or
other coloured glass, and sometimes tied together with a
cord, are often represented both in tracery, and lower
lights, on a plain white or coloured ground. Heraldic
banners are sometimes displayed from the upper parts of
canopies or skreens, and white scrolls bearing mottos are
frequently introduced into tracery lights. The figures of
benefactors often bear the insignia of their family on their
mantles and surcoats, &c. Crests, badges, mottos, rebusses,
initials, &c, executed with the enamel brown and yellow
stain, are amongst the commonest subjects which occur
on the ornamented quarries of this period n.

11. Letters.

The Roman characters do not appear to have generally
superseded the Black letters before the year 1530, until
which time both kinds were used indiscriminately. Both
Roman and Arabic numerals were employed throughout
this style.

When Black letters are used the capitals are generally
Lombardic, and illuminated with yellow precisely as in the
former style.

Many of the initial letters of this period are very beau-
tiful in form, and highly decorated with leaves and other
ornaments.

1 Some excellent examples of heraldry Masters in Christian Decoration ."
are given in the engravings of the win- m See plate 23.

dows of St. Jacques church, Liege, in n See plate 23, No. 2.
Weale's "Divers Works of Early

198

THE CINQUE CENTO STYLE.

12. Mechanical construction.

The utmost attention throughout this period was paid to
the glazing of the paintings so as best to conceal the leads :
without thereby incurring any unnecessary difficulties in
point of execution, or diminishing the stability of the work.

The horizontal divisions of the glass are almost invariably
parallel to the saddle-bars, which conceal many of the leads:
and the vertical divisions generally follow the course of the
outlines of the design. In some instances, however, espe-
cially in skies, and canopy work of late date, the glass is
leaded in lines perpendicular to the saddle-bars. The
saddle-bars themselves, in late work, are sometimes bent a
little out of their course so as to avoid passing across the
head of a figure.

The original leads of this period are not wider in the leaf
than those previously used : and from the pains taken to
conceal them, and the great use of plain clear white glass
for grounds, armorial bearings, as has before been re-
marked, as well as many other objects, often appear as if
suspended in the air.

The ornamental glazing is sometimes very complicated,
but always designed with a view to stability, and facility of
execution. Some of the patterns are very beautiful °.

SECTION Y.
the intermediate style.

The period I have assigned to the Intermediate style
extends from the middle of the sixteenth century to the
present time. From its long duration it of necessity in-

° A variety of geometrical patterns
are given in Le Vieil's "L'Art de la
Peinture sur Verre," plates X, XI, XII,
and XIII. It is always easy to distin-

guish Cinque Cento geometrical glazing
from Decorated by the colour of the
glass.

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

199

eludes many varieties. These may be classed under two
heads ; the first comprising the glass paintings executed
between 1550 and the revival of the Mosaic system, which
took place some twenty or thirty years ago ; the second,
those which have been executed since that period.

Of these two classes, the first in a series of original
works, exhibits the gradual decline of the art of glass
painting from the excellence it had attained in the first
half of the sixteenth century ; the second, though it cannot
claim much originality of design, most of the English ex-
amples at least, being but servile copies of ancient glass,
is yet interesting as shewing the progress already made
towards the resuscitation of the true art. I have endea-
voured in a subsequent part of this book to point out what
are the true principles of glass painting, and the reasons
why I prefer the Mosaic system to either the Enamel, or
Mosaic enamel p. I therefore do not now intend to enter
upon any discussion on the subject. Assuming however
the correctness of my views on this point, it follows that
glass painting deteriorated not in consequence of any want
of encouragement, for the causes of its decline were in full
operation at the period of its greatest prosperity, but from
confounding its principles with those of other systems of
painting, from a disregard of its peculiar conditions and
distinctive character. The Reformation and its troubles
did not corrupt the art of glass painting, though combined
with the prevailing fashion of the times, it may have dis-
couraged its practice. The Mosaic system of glass paint-
ing would equally have been forgotten had the Reformation
never taken place, and the religious habits and feelings of
the people remained unchanged.

The characteristic which in general serves to distinguish
glass paintings of the Intermediate style from those of the

' See chap. ii. § 2, On the true principles of glass painting, &c.

200

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

Cinque Cento, is the employment of enamel colours. The
nature of these colours, which appear to have been dis-
covered about the middle of the sixteenth century i, has
been already explained, as well as the facilities they afford
for producing a great variety and gradation of tints.

Enamels were at first very sparingly used, being em-
ployed merely to heighten the tint of the coloured glasses,
or for the purpose of introducing colour into places
where it would have been difficult if not impossible to
lead in a piece of coloured glass : by degrees, however,
their easy application, and the increasing disposition to
assimilate glass paintings to oil paintings, led to their
substitution in a great degree for coloured glass.

The presence of enamel colours in a glass painting is, in
general, easy of detection. The partial colouring of a piece
of white glass, especially when the coloured part bears but
a small proportion to the white part, will almost always
excite a suspicion that the effect has been produced by
enamelling r. On a closer inspection, the difference be-

i There is no sufficient ground for
attributing the invention of enamels to
John Van Eyck, as has been done by Le
Vieil, " L'Art de la Peinture sur Verre,
et de la Vitrerie," pp. 30, and 36. He
also states that the art of painting on
glass with enamels was perfected in
France by Pinaigrier, and that he was
even regarded in France as their in-
ventor, ib. pp. 63, 43. This, if correct,
would place the introduction of enamels
in the first half of the sixteenth century.
I should add, however, that I have found
Le Vieil not altogether trustworthy in
his account of the different methods of
glass painting.

r A specimen of enamel painting is
given in plate 74 from a Swiss example
of the early part of the seventeenth cen-
tury. In addition to the enamel brown,
with which the shading and outlines are
executed, four different enamel colours,
viz., blue, green, red, and purple are
here represented ; the green, in this par-
ticular instance, being of itself an enamel

colour, and not produced, as is often the
case, by staining the glass yellow on one
side, and enamelling it with blue on the
other. The yellow represented in the
plate is of course stained yellow.

Other specimens of enamel painting
are given in Fowler's "Mosaic Pave-
ments and Painted Glass," viz., Robert
King, last abbot of Osney, and first
bishop of Oxford, from a painting at
Christ Church, Oxford, (supposed by
Dallaway to be by Bernard Van Linge ;
see Dallaway's " Observations on Eng-
lish Architecture," p. 279, note,) and
the portraits of the Saxon earls, from
Aston Hall, near Birmingham, a co-
loured engraving of which is also given
in " Old England," vol. i., where they
are said to be at Brereton Hall, Cheshire.

See also Lasteyrie, " Histoire de la
Peinture sur Verre," plate LXXV,
where enamels are introduced in a gar-
land of flowers, at the bottom of a picture
dated 1551.

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

201

tween the effect of an enamel colour, and that produced
by a piece of coloured glass, will usually be at once per-
ceived in the comparative dulness of the former. With
regard to the general appearance of the work, it will be
found that the employment of enamels to heighten the
tint of the coloured glass, increases the richness of the
glass painting, whilst poverty of colour is the result of
their substitution for pot-metals, &c. In either case they
tend to diminish the transparency and consequent bril-
liancy of the picture.

Windows painted even as late as the early part of the
eighteenth century usually bear a considerable resemblance
to those of the Cinque Cento style in their general arrange-
ments. The most common design consists of one large
picture which occupies the lower lights of the window,
the picture being in general surrounded with architectural
work, as a triumphal arch or skreen ; or of one large
picture with portraits of its donors beneath, or of two or
more pictures, each enclosed within a frame-work of archi-
tecture, and which together cover the whole of the lower
lights. The tracery lights are usually filled up with a
continuation of the principal design, or with smaller sub-
jects accessory to it. The architectural details are rather
Palladian, than Cinque Cento in character. In the course
of the seventeenth century the architecture was more em-
bodied with the picture than was the case in the Cinque
Cento style. The same contrasts of light and shade were
not kept up, and the designs became less striking in their
effect8. After the beginning of the eighteenth century,
architectural frame-works to surround the designs were
generally abandoned.

* See Lasteyrie, " Histoire de la Pein- of Gouda church, Holland, in Weale's
ture surVerre," plates LVI I, LXX. See "Divers Works of Early Masters in
also the representations of the windows Christian Decoration."

D d

202 THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

Figure and canopy windows are not uncommon, their
architecture is either Palladian, or debased Gothic. The
interior of the niche frequently is so darkly shaded as to
appear black, and parts of the canopy work are often
enriched with enamel colours. In their general arrange-
ment, however, the figure and canopy windows of this
style, previously to the revival of the Mosaic system, closely
resemble the Cinque Cento examples*.

The wheel windows are sometimes like the Cinque
Cento ; more commonly, however, the radiating lights are
each filled with an entire figure, having its feet turned
towards the centre of the circle.

Pattern windows are composed simply of white glass cut
into quarries, or various other geometrical patterns, and
leaded together. Ornamented borders to the lights are
seldom to be met with after the middle of the seventeenth
century, and never were very common. In Germany, &c,
round glass was in general used instead of plain white
glass. Coats of arms, and even small scriptural or histo-
rical subjects, were sometimes inserted in pattern windows.

The revival of the Mosaic system in this country, has
been attended with the revival of most medieval arrange-
ments, and has produced but few new, or original designs.
In Germany, however, greater freedom has been displayed,
the artists availing themselves of the ancient designs as
guides, rather than as models to be servilely copied.

Some of the earliest examples of the Intermediate style
are to be found in the church of Gouda, in Holland".

' See Lasteyrie, " Histoire de la Pein- and commodity of both Inhabitans and

ture sur Verre," plate LXXV. Foreigners that come to see this artificial

0 An account of the subjects repre- Work." Gouda, printed by J. Van Ben -
sented in these windows, and the names turn, no date : my copy was purchased in
of the artists employed, are given in a the autumn of 1843.
little book entitled " Explanation of the Le Vieil's description of these win-
famous and renowned Glas-work or dows, ("L' Art de la Peinture sur Verre,"
painted windows, in the fine and emi- p. 44 et seq.) is taken from a former
nent Church at Gouda. For the use edition of the above-named work. The

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

203

With the exception of a few Cinque Cento specimens in the
clearstory of the choir, all the windows of this edifice were
erected between 1555 and 1603. Two of them were
indeed repaired as late as 1651 and 1655. The names of
the artists who executed these works have been preserved,
a circumstance which gives additional value to the Gouda
windows, since it enables many little differences in style to
be referred not to progressive changes in the art, but to
the practice of particular masters. The influence of parti-
cular schools may always be more plainly perceived in the
Intermediate style, when artists acted more independently
of each other, than in the middle ages, during which a
certain general uniformity of style was preserved by a
widely extended observance of conventional rules.

The Cinque Cento arrangements are in general preserved
in the Gouda windows x. In the majority of instances the
window contains two designs, the lowest representing the
donors of the window, or their heraldic insignia, and the
upper some religious, historical, or allegorical subject. Each
picture extends across the window irrespective of mullions,
and is usually enclosed within a frame-work of architecture.
The principal subject sometimes has only a landscape
background.

The execution of the painting, however, differs much
from that of a Cinque Cento example. The chief mass of
colouring is, as in that style, confined to the picture, when-
ever this is surrounded with architectural ornaments ; but
the colours are produced as much by means of enamels as
of coloured glass. In some windows, especially those
erected in the latter part of the sixteenth century, enamel

English edition is reprinted, without Gouda, in Holland.' '
acknowledgment, in the first vol. of x See the engravings of the Gouda

Weale's "Quarterly Papers," constitut- windows in Weale's "Divers Works of

ing "the account" there given "of the Early Masters in Christian Decoration."
painted glass windows of the Church at

204

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

colours are almost wholly substituted for coloured glass.
The character of the shading also differs much from that of
the Cinque Cento style. The enamel ground used for this
purpose is not worked up into dots by bold stippling, but
is watery and dabbled, without having any decided grain,
while the darker shadows are, with a few exceptions, pro-
duced by unstippled smears of paint. The white glass in
those parts of the painting which are not in shadow is
seldom left clear, but is covered with a white enamel.
Owing to these circumstances, the Gouda windows are less
effective than many Cinque Cento or late Gothic examples,
inferior to them in grandeur of design. Taken collectively
they are poor in colour, and dull in appearance, and it is
worthy of remark that this poverty and dulness are not
more perceptible in those windows erected to commemorate
the triumph of the Protestant Faith, and the Independence
of the United Provinces, than in those inscribed as the
gift of the most Catholic princes of Christendom. Indeed
the very earliest examples exhibit precisely the same defects
as the latest.

In England during the latter half of the sixteenth cen-
tury, the Reformation appears to have stopped all great
works. In the reign of Elizabeth little else was attempted
than coats of arms, which were usually enclosed within
panels of that species of ornament known by the name of
Elizabethan, and in the execution of which pot-metal and
enamel colours were nearly equally employed, or small sub-
jects taken from Scripture, such as the wisdom of Solomon,
&c, executed in white and yellow stained glass.

Glass painting, however, considerably revived in the
reigns of James 1/ and Charles I. One of the best speci-
mens of the former reign, is in the chapel of Archbishop

y Bacon, in describing the model of a the banquet side, " fine coloured windows
palace, places, in the stately galleries on of several works." Essay on Building.

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

205

Abbot's hospital, at Guilford, Surrey. It is defective in
transparency, but is much richer in effect than the Dutch
and Flemish glass paintings of the same period. In its
general appearance it resembles the works of the Van
Linges, who were extensively employed in England in this
and the next reign. Of these artists many undoubted pro-
ductions exist at Oxford and elsewhere2. Their paintings
at Oxford generally consist of large pictures extending over
the whole or greater part of a window, irrespective of the
mullions, and usually furnished with landscape backgrounds,
exhibiting a great preponderance of green and blue. They
are deficient in brilliancy, but are in general exceedingly
rich in colour, the enamels in most cases being used rather
to heighten the tint of the coloured glass, than by way of
substitution for it. This last remark equally applies to the
windows of Lincoln's Inn chapela, which if not actually
painted by the Van Linges, are at least of their school. In
point of colour they are as rich as the richest Decorated
glass that I have ever seen. The majority of the windows
of this chapel are figure and canopy windows, having
the arms of their donors placed beneath the feet of the
figures. The east window is now filled with glass of a
much later date, and there is no proof that it ever was
adorned with glass of the same date as that in the side

1 A list of artists who practised glass
painting in England in the seventeenth
and following century, and references to
some of their most remarkable works, is
given in Dallaway's " Observations on
English Architecture," Lond. 1806, p.
277 et seq. Le Vieil has collected the
names and given short notices of most of
the French and Flemish artists from the
fifteenth century, to the middle of the
eighteenth. " L'Art de la Peinture sur
Verre et de la Vitrerie," p. 33 et seq. It
appears that many of the artists of the
sixteenth and following centuries, prac-
tised oil painting as well as glass paint-

ing, and that many more forsook glass
painting for oil painting.

The most complete list is in Dr. Ges-
sert's " Geschichte der Glasmalerei," p.
78 et seq., which includes German,
Flemish, French, English, Swiss, Italian
and Spanish artists, from the eleventh
century to the year 1800.

■ The Hon. Society of Lincoln's Inn
possesses no authentic information re-
specting these windows. In all proba-
bility they were erected at the cost of the
individuals whose arms are inserted in
them.

206 THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

windows. The west window evidently was an heraldic
window, and much of the original glass remains in its
upper part. Amongst the arms still existing may be
noticed those of Noy, attorney-general to Charles I., and of
Henry Sherfleld, Esq., recorder of Salisbury, who was so
severely fined by the Star Chamber for breaking what he
considered an idolatrous painted window in a church at
Salisbury11.

After the reign of Charles I. the further progress of glass
painting was for a while retarded by the Rebellion, and
the gloomy prejudices of those unhappy times, when men
were led rather to deface and despoil churches and places
of worship of their ornaments, than to render them the
receptacles of works of art0.

The taste for painted glass had so universally declined
both at home and abroad towards the latter half of the
seventeenth century, that it is not surprising that so few
works of interest should have been executed in this country
after the Restoration. Of heraldic atchievements in glass
there is indeed no lack; the glass painters, even in the
times of the greatest depression, seem to have been con-
tinually employed on such subjects.

The earliest example of a picture glass painting since the
Restoration that I am aware of, is the east window of
University college chapel, Oxford, the subject of which is
the Birth of Christ, painted by Giles of York in 1687.
Time has already severely injured this work. The colours
of the stains and pot-metal glass remain, but the enamel
painting has almost wholly perished, a proof how much the

•» See "State Trials," vol. i. p. 399, that we owe the preservation of many

fol. ed. The "images of the apostles" glass paintings to their timely removal

in the Lincoln's Inn chapel windows, from the windows at the Rebellion,

are referred to by Archbishop Laud in Some were respected through conven-

his account of his own trial. " State tions entered into with the parliamentary

Trials," vol. i. p. 884. fol. ed. generals, or from scrupulous motives.

c There can be little doubt, I think,

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

207

art had deteriorated at that time even in its most mecha-
nical department, the composition of the fluxes.

William Price, in 1702, painted the lower lights of the
east window of Merton college chapel, Oxford, the subjects
being taken from the life of Christ. This is, as the last-
mentioned work must have been, a weak performance as
regards colour, enamels being used almost to the substitu-
tion of coloured glass. His brother Joshua, however, in
the east window of St. Andrew's church, Holborn, (which
is dated 1718, and represents two subjects, the Resurrec-
tion, and the Last Supper,) has really rivalled the rich
colouring of the Van Linges. In this window coloured
glass is abundantly used, together with enamels, in the
draperies of the figures. The painting is deficient in bril-
liancy, and some of the shadows are nearly opaque, yet
these defects may almost be overlooked in the excellence of
its composition, and in its immense superiority as a glass
painting over all other works executed between the com-
mencement of the eighteenth century, and the revival of
the Mosaic system. A like richness of colouring is observ-
able in most of the other works of Joshua Price. He how-
ever seems to have imitated not only the tints, but also the
heavy though effective execution of the Van Linge school.
This is I think particularly observable in such of the un-
coloured side windows of Magdalene college chapel, Oxford,
as were painted by himd.

Coloured glass continued to be extensively used in Eng-
land, together with enamels, until the beginning of the pre-
sent century, to which circumstance many of the works of
William Price the younger, and Peckitt of York, owe their
principal effect and value. The latter, it is true, in the
allegorical painting in the library of Trinity college, Cam-

d Viz., all but the easternmost one on either side.

208

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

bridge e, has in great measure dispensed with the use of
coloured glass. He has however applied the enamels to
the glass in little hatches, as in an oil painting, by which
means much of the dulness so observable in earlier works
has been avoided.

The practice of painting even large works entirely with
enamels and stains, was introduced here in the latter half
of the last century. Of this, one of the most remarkable
examples is afforded by the west window of New college
chapel, Oxford f.

The enamels are applied in little hatches, and the paint-
ing has in consequence a very pearly effect, but the infe-
riority of this work in point of colour to those in which
coloured glass has been employed, must be apparent to the
most casual observer. The windows of Arundel castle,
Sussex, are inferior instances of the same system. In their
washy appearance they rather resemble a painted canvas
window-blind, than a painted window.

The decline and fall of glass painting may be as dis-
tinctly traced on the continent as in England. The cause
of its corruption has been already alluded to, that of its
gradual disuse may be ascribed rather to the fashion of the
times, and a preference for works of art executed in other

e It was designed by Cipriani, and
was put up towards the end of the
eighteenth century.

' This window, which consists of two
designs, the upper being the Nativity,
and the lower the four Cardinal, and
three Christian virtues, placed in a row,
was " painted by Jervais, from finished
cartoons furnished by Sir Joshua Rey-
nolds, and begun in the year 1777."
[Ingram's " Memorials of Oxford," vol.
1.] It must have been put up between
that time and 6th Oct. 1785, when
Horace Walpole thus writes to the Hon.
H. T. Conway. " I don't wonder you
was disappointed with Jarvis's windows
at New college : I had foretold their
miscarriage :" (in a letter to the Rev.

Mr. Cole, 12th July, 1779) "the old and
the new are as mismatched as an orange
and a lemon, and destroy each other, nor is
there room enough to retire back and see
half of the new ; and Sir Joshua's washy
virtues make the Nativity a dark spot
from the darkness of the shepherds, which
happened, as I knew it would, from most
of Jarvis's colours not being transparent."
These remarks appear just. The radical
defect of the work, however, consists in
the general unfitness of the design for a
glass painting. Had it been executed in
coloured glass, it would have still been
unsatisfactory, though it would have
more nearly approached the splendour of
Sir Joshua's original sketch.

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

209

materials than glass, than to the wars consequent on the
Reformation, though these to a certain extent must have
checked its practice g.

In France, even towards the end of the sixteenth cen-
tury, the substitution of enamels for coloured glass does
not appear to have taken place to the same extent as in
Holland and Belgium ; and the French glass paintings are
proportionably richer, and more effective. A proof of this
is afforded by the beautiful representation of the Visitation
of the Blessed Virgin, which was brought from the church
of St. Nicholas at Rouen, and now, through the munificence
of the late Lord Carlisle, adorns one of the choir windows
of York cathedral11. This work, which judging from its

* An illustration of the rapidity of the
decline of glass painting in France, and
a striking contrast between the universal
taste for this art in one age, and the dis-
credit into which it had fallen in that
which immediately followed, may be seen
in Le Vieil's " L'Art de la Peinture sur
Verre et de la Vitrerie." In the sixteenth
century, he observes, the quantity of
works is astonishing ; not only churches
and palaces and the mansions of the great,
but town halls, the saloons of the rich,
and the apartments of private individuals,
and even carriages were ornamented with
glass paintings from the designs and car-
toons of the best masters. (Ib. p. 38).
By the end of the century, on the other
hand, we find Bernard de Palissy, a glass
painter, complaining of the difficulty
which the too numerous glass painters
had of procuring subsistence, and the
imperfect manner in which many works
were, in consequence, executed. Palissy
adds that at the end of the sixteenth cen-
tury, the art of making and colouring
glass began to decline, especially in Pe-
rigord, Limousin, Xaintonge, Angou-
mois, Gascony, Beam, and Bigorre. The
glass paintings from these provinces were
hawked about by the sellers of old clothes
and old iron. "L'etat de Verrier," he
continues, " est noble, mais plusieurs
sont Gentilshommes pour exercer le dit
art, qui vondroient etre routuriers et
avoir de quoi payer les subsides des

Princes, et vivent plus mechaniquement
que les crocheteurs de Paris." (B. de
Palissy as quoted by Le Vieil, ib. p. 62.)
In a subsequent chapter (ib. p. 81.) Le
Vieil, after noticing the almost total ex-
tinction of his art at the time he was
writing, enumerates the reasons which
were usually alleged to account for and
justify the continuance of its disuse.
These were the fragility of the material,
and the liability of glass paintings to
perish, — the obscurity they occasioned in
churches, an inconvenience which had
caused many of them to be taken down, —
the unbecoming character of many an-
cient glass paintings, — and the difficulty
of repairing those which had fallen into
decay, on account of the art of colouring
glass being lost. Le Vieil combats these
reasons, most of which are sufficiently
frivolous, but they serve to illustrate the
light in which glass painting was held
at that time.

h Viz., the easternmost window in the
side of the south aisle. This beautiful
work, which was presented to the cathe-
dral in 1 804, appears to have been taken
from a design of Baroccio. Le Vieil
however states, " Histoire de la Peinture
sur Verre et de la Vitrerie," p. 57, that
it was said to have been painted after a
cartoon by Raphael Sadeler. The an-
nual register for the year 1804, in record-
ing the gift to the cathedral, says, that
" the figures were always considered to

e e

210 THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

style, is of the close of the sixteenth century, is one of the
latest good specimens of glass painting in existence. There
is perhaps rather a want of transparency in the shadows,
owing to their ground not being sufficiently stippled, — a
symptom of the decline of the art, — but enamel colours are
very sparingly introduced, being employed merely in the
borders of the draperies, and in other subordinate parts,
and there not to such an extent as to diminish the trans-
parency of the picture.

The windows of the transept and north aisle of the nave
of St. Jacques' church, Antwerp, which are cotemporary
works, (some are dated 1620, 1621, 1629 and 1640,) have
precisely the same defects as the Gouda windows ; viz., a
washiness and want of brilliancy, the consequence of em-
ploying enamels in a great degree in lieu of coloured glass,
and of omitting to confine the shadows to their proper
limits, and to sufficiently stipple their ground. Windows of
an earlier date, quite as dark and dingy as these, may be
seen in Amsterdam cathedral1 ; they were erected in 1555.

The four eastern clearstory windows of the transept,
Antwerp cathedral, dated 1613, are as defective in trans-
parency as those last mentioned, although but little enamel
colour is used in them.

In their general arrangement all the foregoing windows
resemble the picture windows of the Cinque Cento style.

Some of the best examples of glass painting of the
middle of the seventeenth century, remain in the four win-
dows of the chapel of the Virgin, Brussels cathedral. They
are dated 1649, 1650, 1658, 1663k.

have been designed either by Sebastian k The principal subjects of these win-
del Piombo, or Michael Angelo." p. 432. dows are enumerated in the text in the
It is evident that it was originally de- order in which they are, counting from
signed for a window of four lights. the eastward. The first window from the

i Viz., three in the north aisle, repre- east is inscribed as the gift of the em-
senting the Visitation, the Nativity of . peror Ferdinand, 1650, the second, that
Christ, and the Deatli of the Virgin. of the emperor Leopold, 1658, the third,

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

211

The Cinque Cento arrangement is preserved in these
windows; two tiers of archways, or rather architectural
skreens fill their lower lights, the lower containing portraits
of the donors kneeling and attended by their patron saints,
the upper, one of the following subjects, the Presentation in
the Temple, the Marriage of the Virgin, the Annunciation,
and the Salutation. In these works, coloured glass is used
only in some of the draperies, the picture being almost
entirely painted with enamels and stains. The shading is
also not sufficiently stippled and open, and the general
effect of the windows, when contrasted with the Cinque
Cento examples in the opposite chapel of the Miraculous
Sacrament », is dull and dirty. The most brilliant window
of the four is that of the Annunciation, owing to the flood
of light which is admitted through the clear yellow glass
with which the angel Gabriel is surrounded. With all
their faults, however, these windows are, from the nature
of their design, grand and imposing objects, and when
viewed from the nave of the cathedral, whence their want
of transparency is less observable, and their colouring from
being seen sideways is apparently increased in depth, they
constitute very splendid ornaments. It must be admitted,
however, that their merit is greater as works of art than as
glass paintings.

After the middle of the seventeenth century, glass paint-
ing appears to have gone more rapidly and completely out
of fashion on the continent than in England. Pew works

that of the archduke and archduchess signs for these windows, which may ex-

Alhert and Isabella, 1663, and the fourth, plain the report thac they were painted

that of the emperor Leopold, 1649. Le by Van Tilden after designs by Rubens.

Vieil, "L'Art de la Peinture sur Verre et The fourth window from the east, which

de la Vitrerie," p. 71, ascribes these win- as above stated is inscribed as the gift of

dows to Abraham Van-Diepenbeke, a the emperor Leopold, 1649, bears also

pupil of Rubens, and a skilful painter the following inscription, " I de Labarre

in oils as well as on glass. He was i et Fa 1654," from which it would seem

nominated director of the academy of that he both designed and executed it.

Antwerp in 1641. It is not improbable 1 These have been already noticed in

that this artist merely furnished the de- the course of the Cinque Cento style.

212

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

of greater interest than coats of arms, and little borders
and ornaments, were executed during the remainder of the
century, and these were but of small importance. In the
eighteenth century little else was done than repairs; and
Le Vieil mentions that at the time he wrote (1768) there
was but one glass painter in Paris, and he had so little
employment in his art, that he would not have had the
means of subsistence if he had not joined to it the business
of a glazier m. Previously to this time enamels had so
entirely superseded the use of coloured glass in Prance, as
to have caused its manufacture in that country to be dis-
continued".

The revival of the Mosaic system of glass painting has
been more complete in this country than abroad. Some
of our modern specimens are indeed not inferior to the
best ancient examples in the mere strength and vividness
of their colouring, but such is the tendency of opinions on
matters of taste to run into opposite extremes, that whilst
celebrating the exchange of a vicious for a purer practice
of glass painting, by the abandonment of the enamels of
the last and early part of the present century ; we have to
deplore the loss in general of that originality of design and
treatment of subjects, which constituted the redeeming
quality of the works of that period. Indeed the erroneous
notion that nothing besides brilliancy of colour is required

m " L'Art de la Peinture sur Verre et
dela Vitrerie," p. 81. The artist alluded
to seems to have been a brother of Le
Vieil.

0 It is clear from Le Vieil's state-
ment in " L'Art de la Peinture sur Verre
et de la Vitrerie," that in his time, glass
was no longer coloured in France at the
manufactories, either as a pot-metal, or
as coated glass. Coloured glass of the
former kind, and probably of the latter
also, was procured from Bohemia and
Alsace. Of coated glass, however, he
seems to have had no knowledge whatever.
The process of colouring glass on one

side, described by him, is enamel colour-
ing, and even this he speaks of as being
disused in France, adding that such dis-
use had given rise to the prevalent opi-
nion that the art of painting on glass was
lost. It is to be observed that in de-
scribing the last-mentioned process, he
does not speak from personal experience,
but takes his account from Kunckel ;
and on the whole, his want of practical
knowledge has caused some obscurity
in the terms he applies to the difTerent
kinds of coloured glass, and renders his
authority in relation to them of little
value.

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE. 213

in a glass painting, has engendered the cultivation of a low-
species of art, and the servile imitation of the grotesque
and extravagant drawing of the middle ages.

The great majority of the English glass paintings of the
revived Mosaic style, are either direct copies of an original
work, or mere compilations, in which each individual part
is taken from some ancient example. They are in general
easily distinguishable from ancient glass even when the
closeness of the copy precludes any mixture or confusion
of style; the imitations of the earlier patterns being be-
trayed by the flimsy quality of their material, and by the
attempts made to impart depth of colour, and tone, to them,
as well as to disguise their real date, by dirtying or dulling
over the glass with enamel brown or other pigments : and
the imitations of the later specimens by a peculiar heaviness
of execution, and a display of the imperfect drawing of the
ancient artists without any of their feeling or inspiration.
To which may be added the imperfect fluxing of the
enamel brown, the ruddiness of its hue, and the occa-
sional use of other enamel colours. There are of course
some examples to which the above strictures do not apply,
but these works0 partake rather of the character of a new
and original, than of mere imitative style, which suffi-
ciently serves to distinguish them from ancient glass p.
The French, in their imitations of ancient glass paintings,
have been more successful than ourselves in catching the
spirit of their models, a circumstance which is no doubt
attributable to the higher artistic talent generally employed

° As for instance the artistical produc- cult to be distinguished from ancient,
tions of the late Mr. Miller, in whose are Mr. Willement's heraldic glass paint-
figures are displayed all the delicacy ings, whether in respect of their design,
and grace which belong to original works or their execution. So thoroughly has
of the commencement of the sixteenth he imbibed the spirit of the ancient
century, without their defective drawing ; draughtsmen, that the quaintness he
and the subsequent performances of Mr. imparts to his works has a truly ori-
Ward, and Mr. Nixon. ginal air.

p Of all modern works the most diffi-

214

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

in the practice of glass painting in France. The different
texture of the modern material to the old, will in the gene-
rality of cases serve to detect the copy.

In Germany, instead of the revival of the Mosaic system,
we see the adoption of the Mosaic Enamel, purified of such
of its defects as are not absolutely inherent; and instead
of mere imitations of ancient authorities, the bold and un-
disguised developement of a new and original style, appa-
rently having for its object an union of the severe and ex-
cellent drawing of the early Florentine oil paintings, with
the colouring and arrangement of the glass paintings of
the latter half of the sixteenth century. There is therefore
no danger of confounding the productions of the Munich
school with those of the middle ages. With a full persua-
sion that the adoption in Germany of the Mosaic system
would be attended with beneficial results, I am compelled
to admit that the artistical character of the Munich glass
paintings in general, renders that school at the present
moment on the whole superior to all those which have
arisen since the beginning of the seventeenth century.

I now proceed to a more detailed description of some of
the most remarkable features of the Intermediate style.

1. THE TEXTURE AND COLOUR OF THE GLASS.

The white glass throughout all but the last few years of
the Intermediate style, is in general of a pale dusky yellow
tint; sometimes however it is colourless, or of a light
bluish green hue. The different kinds vary but little in
substance, but the colourless glass is usually of a harder
texture than the yellow, and takes the yellow stain less
easily i. One kind of colourless glass, however, which was

i Le Vieil notices the difference in that Venetian glass is softer and less
colour and texture between various kinds resists the fire than that made in Ger-
of white glass in his day. He states many, Hesse, and at St. Quirin in

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

215

much used in glass paintings, is often stained to the
deepest tint of orange. During the reigns of Elizabeth
and James I. there were in this country other varieties of
white glass besides those which have been mentioned, one
sort without the thickness of the sheet being increased, is
of a deep dirty olive colour, like modern common bottle
glass : another is of an indigo blue, or purplish green tint,
as deep and powerful as Early English or Decorated white
glass, for which it may by an unpractised eye be easily mis-
taken ; the inky purple colour of a third kind seems to
indicate the presence of manganese in its composition.
With the exception of the last sort but one, which is apt
to become perforated with holes as large as the head of a
pin, all this glass is but little affected by the action of the
atmosphere. The yellow sort, in particular, is sometimes
covered with minute black dots, but is seldom much ob-
scured. The surface of the sheet is generally uneven and
crumpled, so that objects seen through the glass appear
greatly distorted.

In the early part of the last century, crown glass began
to be used instead of broad glass, (to which alone the above
remarks apply,) in glass paintings. Indeed all the more ela-
borate enamel glass paintings are composed of it. Crown
glass is in general easily distinguished from broad glass, by
its flimsy appearance, and its want of tone.

Within the last few years, the demand for imitations of
ancient painted glass has occasioned the manufacture of
white glass purposely tinted in imitation of the old, from
which however it is easily distinguishable by its texture, its
colour, and even the levelness of its surface.

Ruby glass was certainly used in this country as late as

Vosges : and that the French glass is
harder than any of these, being much
less charged with salts. He also cites
an observation of Kunckel, that the

yellow stain takes best on Bohemian
and Venetian glass. "L'Art de la
Peinture sur Verre et de la Vitrerie,"
pp. 109, 110, 111.

216

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

the first quarter of the eighteenth century. That found in
the glass paintings of this time exhibits all the peculiarities
of ordinary ruby. Its tint however changed from scarlet,
to a deep crimson, or rather claret colour, as early as the
reign of Elizabeth, during which period it began to be
superseded in small works by enamel red. This, which
is a compound colour, produced by covering stained yellow
glass with a coat of enamel, resembling China red, is always
of a strong orange tint, and may on this account as well as
by its want of depth and transparency be immediately dis-
tinguished from ruby. The facility of its application caused
it to be always much employed. It is durable, for though
the enamel colour may be easily scratched off the glass with
a pin, or even a pointed stick, it is not much affected by the
action of the atmosphere. The art of making ruby lay dor-
mant from it would seem the beginning of the eighteenth
century until within the last twenty years, during which
time many expedients were resorted to, in order to produce
red glass r. The most common was that of deeply staining
crown glass on both sides of the sheet, but the result was
seldom satisfactory, the colour in general being dull, and
inclining to orange. I have indeed seen in some modern
works, especially in those of Mr. Willement, small pieces
of stained red not to be distinguished from real ruby.
Mr. Ward has also produced a red, by combining an
enamel with a stain, which except on a close inspection

' It would seem from a passage in
Evelyn's Diary that difficulty was
experienced in obtaining a good red
stain, and that as late as the year 1682,
the glass painters had not overcome it.
This may perhaps account for the use
of ruby glass until the period mentioned
in the text.

"At ye meeting of R. Society were
exhibited some pieces of amber sent by
ye Duke of Brandenburg, in one of wch
was a spider, in another a gnat, both

very intire. There was a discourse of
ye tingeing of glass, especially with red,
and ye difficulty of finding any red co-
lour effectual to penetrate glass, among
ye glass painters ; that ye most dia-
phonous, as blue, yellow, &c. did not
enter into the substance of what was ordi-
narily painted, more than very shallow,
unless incorporated in the mettal itselfe,
other reds and whites not at all beyond
ye superficies."— Evelyn's Memoirs, vol.
iii. p. 65, 8vo. ed.

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

217

might easily be mistaken for ruby. Happily however for
glass painting, a stop has been put to these inventions
by the revival in France of the manufacture of ruby glass,
identical in texture and colour with that of the first half of
the sixteenth century.

The use of pot-metal yellow, seems to have been aban-
doned soon after the middle of the seventeenth century,
and to have been superseded by the yellow stain, which
is generally of a deep colour, and frequently of an orange
tint. Light blue pot-metal glass was much employed
throughout the style, in representations of armour, and
landscapes, ornamental work, &c.; but the blue glass com-
monly used in draperies, &c, was of a deep purple tint,
until the revival of the Mosaic system within the last few
years, when a recurrence to ancient colours took place.

The green of the Van Linge school, is of a fine rich olive
colour, but that which was generally employed until lately,
is of a cold raw tint.

Of the various enamel colours, blue, besides being in
general the dullest, is that which is the most perishable,
being liable to chip or scale off, leaving the surface of the
glass which was beneath it, quite rough. That in the
Swiss glass paintings of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries is not open to this objection, being completely
fluxed, and nearly as transparent as pot-metal blue. The
Swiss enamels are indeed the only ones which seem to
perfectly resist the action of the atmosphere.

In enamel paintings many compound colours are pro-
duced by applying two enamels of different tints, to oppo-
site sides of the glass ; or, by staining one side, and ena-
melling the other.

A perfectly black enamel was much employed, even as
early as the reign of Elizabeth, to represent sable in
heraldry, or black draperies, &c.

f f

218

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

2. Mode of execution8.

The coarse stipple shading of the Cinque Cento style
was retained in many instances, as late as the middle of
the seventeenth century: the deeper shadows, however,
being formed of unstippled hatches of brown paint, or
with thick smear shading. Sometimes indeed they are
slightly stippled, but not sufficiently so as to produce a
grain. In general, however, the brown ground appears
as if it had been simply washed in, and allowed to dry
without being stippled, or else it is so slightly stippled
as to have no decided grain ■ the deeper shadows in this
case being formed as before mentioned, or with dense
black dabs of brown paint. Lights are taken out in the
usual way by scraping off the brown ground. The Dutch
and Flemish artists seem to have always had a prejudice
against perfectly clear lights, especially where white glass
is used, except of small extent, and to have generally
spread a coat of white enamel on the back of the glass*,
which produces a dulness resembling that of a piece of
ground glass.

In the eighteenth century, and subsequently, the glass
was painted with enamels, very much as canvass is with
oil colours, viz., in little hatches, and the shadows were
not produced merely with enamel brown, but with deeper
tints of the various local colours. In this way the shadows
are almost imperceptibly blended with the lights, scarcely

s The different modes of glass paint-
ing are considered with reference to their
effect on the transparency of the material,
in the second section of the second
chapter of this hook.

1 This practice is defended hy Le Vieil,
" L' Art de la Peinture sur Verre et de la
Vitrerie," pp. 110 and 133, who in the
former place controverts Dora Pernetti's
opinion that it is improper to paint glass

white, hoth because this would render it
opaque, and also because the glass when
left clear appears to the spectator as if it
were white. Le Vieil himself in draw-
ing a comparison between the two
brothers, Dirk and Walter Crabeth,
however, admits the effect of clear lights
in a glass painting as producing bril-
liancy.— lb. p. 44.

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

219

any part of the glass being left perfectly free of colour, or
the marks of the brush.

The practice of abrading the surface of ruby glass for
the sake of representing white or yellow objects on it,
continued to be occasionally used as long as the ruby itself
was employed. The same object was however more fre-
quently achieved by means of the enamel red.

3. Figures.

The Italian manner of drawing, much corrupted, had
entirely superseded the medieval at the commencement of
the Intermediate style, though medieval costumes were
occasionally represented u. The figures are in general well
proportioned, but the draperies, though ample, are seldom
natural, but have a vague and unsatisfactory appearance.
The folds are too much broken up and diversified, and in
general do not express the action of the figure beneath with
sufficient precision. It is principally to this want of crisp-
ness, and decision in the draperies, that the heaviness of the
figures of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is owing:
for where there are no strongly marked projections, there
can be no vivid lights ; and a glass painting without a suffi-
cient proportion of vivid lights must necessarily be dull
in effect.

The figures are generally far better designed than exe-
cuted. In English glass paintings of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries the execution of the heads and hands
is frequently very coarse, vulgar, and inartificial.

White glass is generally used for the naked parts of the

u If the engraving of the morrice
dancers formerly in a window of the
house of George Tollett, Esq., Betley,
Staffordshire, which forms the frontis-
piece to the first vol. of " Old England,"
be correctly coloured, this glass must

have been painted subsequently to the
middle of the sixteenth century, what-
ever may be the date of the costumes of
the dancers. The presence of enamel
colours in the window would set this
question at rest.

220

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

figures, which are tinted and shaded with a red enamel,
the hair of the head being left white, stained yellow, or
coloured brown. The white of the eye is also in general
coloured pale blue, or left white. The iris is not unfre-
quently painted blue. The lips and cheeks were tinted
with a brickdust coloured red, until the latter part of the
last century, when this colour was superseded by a light
carnation.

4. Ornaments.

The ornaments introduced into the glass paintings of
the Intermediate style, always resemble those found in
other decorations of the same period. At the commence-
ment of the style, the Cinque Cento character of ornament
was preserved. This gradually gave way to the curious
style known as Elizabethan, which was in its turn super-
seded by that of Louis XIV., &c.

The Elizabethan form of ornament offered in its little
scrolls, its incrustations of jewellery, &c, many oppor-
tunities of introducing various enamel colours3". The
general body of the ornament was usually stained yellow.
Yellow was the colour principally employed in the later
ornaments.

5 and 6. Borders and patterns.

The pattern windows of the latter half of the sixteenth
and during the following century are in general composed
of plain white glass in quarries, or cut so as to form with
the leads various geometrical patterns In some rare in-

x See examples of this style of orna-
ment, plates 26 and 74.

y A geometrical pattern very com-
monly used in the reign of Eliz. and
James I., is represented in plate 26.
In ordinary cases, the square occupied
with the coat of arms is of course filled

with a piece of plain white glass. The
geometrical patterns of this, as well as of
the Cinque Cento style, are not only dis-
tinguishable from the Decorated and
Early English, by the colour of the
glass, but in the generality of instances,
by the form of the pattern itself. The

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

221

stances of the time of Elizabeth, or James I., a few plain
pieces of coloured glass are inserted amongst the white
glass z. Ornamental glazing however became to be greatly
discontinued in the course of the eighteenth century, and
the windows were usually filled with uniform rectangular
panes of white glass a.

In Germany, round glass was in general substituted for
plain white glass. The panes seem to have reached their
greatest diameter15 about the middle of the last century, at
which time, from the level smoothness of their surfaces,
it is difficult to distinguish them at first sight from circular
pieces of plain white glass.

Borders to the lights were not commonly used. The
latest that I have met with are of the middle of the seven-
teenth century, and are, like the earlier examples, composed
of foliage and other ornaments executed in white and
yellow glass, on a black or white ground, resembling in
effect a Cinque Cento border c.

Coats of arms, and other devices, were often inserted in
pattern windows.

earlier patterns usually consist of a kind
of interlaced work formed of narrow
strips of glass : the Cinque Cento, and
Intermediate, are principally composed
of square, octagonal, and hexagonal
pieces of glass of different sizes, with
short narrow hits interspersed. These
last patterns on the whole very much re-
semble the design of an inlaid oak floor.

z A window of this kind may be seen
in Bisham church, Berks.

a This uninteresting kind of glazing
was by no means uncommon even in the
reign of Charles I., and was of still ear-
lier invention ; a representation of it
occurs in a painting of the Seven Sacra-
ments, by John Van Eyck, in the
museum at Antwerp. [John Van Eyck
was born in 1370, and died in 1465.] Its
employment probably originated in a
desire to conceal the leads as completely
as possible, without regard to orna-
ments ; for, in windows thus glazed, the
horizontal lines coincide with those of

the saddle-bars, and the perpendicular
lines with those of the standards, or up-
right bars. The perpendicular leads
however arrest the eye more forcibly than
the standards, which being placed out-
side the window, at a little distance from
the glass, — the transparency of which is
in general somewhat diminished by age,
— are on this account seldom distinctly
seen through the window.

b i. e. about six inches.

The smoothness of the round glass
alluded to in the text, may be noticed in
earlier examples, as in the windows of
the post inn at Oberlauchringen, a vil-
lage between Schaffausen and Wallshut,
where this kind of glazing is employed
to surround some Swiss heraldic glass
paintings, bearing date, 1578, 1 579, 1580,
and 1587.

c Some late borders are engraved in
the French work on Auch cathedral,
plate 4. This window is dated 1649.

222

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

In churches &c, the tracery lights of pattern windows,
when not glazed with mere patterns of white glass, are
often filled with coarsely designed masses of foliage &c,
executed in white and yellow, or coloured glass.

7 and 8. Pictures and canopies.

The pictures for the most part resemble those of the
Cinque Cento style in their general composition, and
arrangement. Greater importance was however given to
the landscape backgrounds, and proportional efforts were
made to produce atmospheric effect. Some of the paintings,
those of the Van Linges in particular, have a cold appear-
ance, from the great quantity of green foliage introduced in
the background.

Large pictures having for their subjects, a landscape, or
the interior of a building, and executed entirely in brown
and yellow, were not uncommon even so early as the latter
half of the sixteenth century d. Their effect is generally
dull and heavy, and always unsatisfactory. Designs exe-
cuted in the same manner, but painted on round or oval
pieces of glass of but a few inches in diameter, were very
common in the middle of the seventeenth century.

The canopies in figure and canopy windows in general
bear a smaller proportion to the size of the figure beneath,
than was usual in the Cinque Cento style. Their details
are either bad Gothic, or a mixture of Cinque Cento and
Palladian. The hollo wness of the niche is generally marked
with a deep shadow. A curtain of coloured tapestry is
usually hung behind the figure. The back of the niche
above the curtain is often pierced with windows, through

d See Lasteyrie, " Histoire de la Pein- windows of Gouda church, Holland, in
ture sur Verre," plate LXXIII. Weale's " Divers Works of Early Mas-

See also engravings of some of the ters in Christian Decoration."

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

223

which a landscape is seen. A coat of arms is frequently
inserted beneath the feet of the figure.

In Holland and England, after the Reformation, repre-
sentations of sybils, and female saints, gave way to personi-
fications of the Christian virtues ; and subjects taken from
Scripture supplied the place of those founded on mere
legendary authority.

9. Tracery lights.

The tracery lights of pattern windows have been already
described e. Those of picture windows are sometimes filled
with angels or saints, executed in colours, and placed on
coloured or white grounds, or even with small pictures, or
heraldry. The design in the lower lights, however, fre-
quently extends into the tracery lights, which are in that
case filled with representations of clouds, foliage, or the
like.

10. Heraldry.

Armorial bearings, consisting sometimes of the simple
shield, but more commonly of the additional accompani-
ments of helmet, crest, and mantling, &c, are most usually
found enclosed within little ornamented panels of a square
or oval form, and inserted in pattern windows. The
helmets, mantlings, &c, scarcely differ in form from those
used in modern heraldry. Shields of arms, or crests
painted on quarries, are not uncommon f. In some win-
dows large achievements were introduced, extending into
three or more lights without regard to the mullions. The
colouring of the arms is produced principally by enamels,

e See an example in Lettu's " Descrip-
tion de l'Eglise Metropolitaine du Diocese
d'Auch," plate 4. The windows repre-
sented ib., plates 1 and 2, seem to be

Cinque Cento. But plate 3 may be
referred to as affording another example
of the Intermediate style.
f See an example plate 26.

224

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

but until the beginning of the present century pot-metals
were introduced as opportunities offered.

11. Letters.

The ordinary Roman letters were generally used through-
out the style, until the revival of the Mosaic system, and
the imitations of the Gothic glass within the last few years.

12. Mechanical construction.

In the want of harmony between the picture and its
lead-work, we perceive one of the false principles on which
glass painting was conducted after the middle of the six-
teenth century. Instead of availing themselves of the lead
lines as giving force and precision to the painting, the
artists of the Intermediate style appear to have regarded
them as unsightly objects, which necessity alone compelled
them to retain. The practice continued nearly as late as
the middle of the seventeenth century of leading figures
across, in horizontal lines, corresponding with the saddle-
bars, and making the vertical leads take the course of the
outlines ; but as early as the commencement of the style,
the glass of which the background and architectural frame-
work of the picture was composed, was generally cut into
uniform rectangular pieces, and so leaded together. The
principle thus introduced of treating this part of the paint-
ing as if it were an object seen through a net-work of
straight black lines crossing each other at right angles,
was at length extended to the figures also, which were
cut in pieces, and leaded together in perpendicular as well
as horizontal lines like the rest of the window ; a piece of
glass equal in size to four of the ordinary rectangles being
used when the face of the figure would otherwise have been
crossed by the lead- work.

THE INTERMEDIATE STYLE.

225

Coats of arms, for convenience sake, were generally
leaded together in the direction of their principal division
lines.

The narrow lead continued in use during the reign of
Elizabeth, and does not appear to have materially increased
in width even in the reign of Charles I.*

The broad lead seems to have been introduced in pattern
work towards the latter part of the seventeenth century,
and was employed in glass paintings, together with several
sorts of narrower leads, until within the last few years. It
is still used in ordinary glazing h.

*#* I find I have been misled by incorrect information t'n ascribing
(ante p. 207, note d.) all but the two easternmost windows of the body
of Magdalene college chapel, Oxford, to Joshua Price. It appears from
the "Oxford Guide," (ed. 1840. p. 32,) that he painted only the two
windows which I have excepted ; the remaining eight having been
painted in 1635. This clears up a difficulty which I could only recon-
cile by supposing that he had imitated in these eight windows, the style
of the Van Linge school.

My faith in regarding the texture of the glass itself as a proof of date,
is increased by this, I am ashamed to say, so tardy a discovery. For it
was the texture of the glass, rather than the execution of these win-
dows, that led me to make further enquiry.

k I have noticed in a glass painting in
Lydiart Tregoz church, Wilts, — and
which I should ascribe to the Van Linge
school, — some portions of the original
lead-work, which from being in a rather
complicated coat of arms, were on that
account perhaps left undisturbed, the
rest of the window having been re-leaded.

The leads are here scarcely a quarter of
an inch broad in the leaf, and closely re-
semble modern fret lead.

h Leads of different widths, are re-
presented in Le Vieil's " L'Art de la
Peinture sur Verre et de la Vitrerie,"
plate VIII.

CHAPTER II.

SECTION I.

EMPLOYMENT OF PAINTED GLASS AS A MEANS OF
DECORATION.

The art of glass painting was in all probability first
employed in the embellishment of churches : and this,
which still continues to be its most extensive and important
application, is naturally that to which the attention is first
directed. The appropriate decoration of churches, putting
out of view other motives for the practice, is an object of
great utility. It is desirable to render places of worship
pleasing and attractive to the bulk of the people, and not
politic to neglect their taste for whatever is showy, bril-
liant, and ornamental. A great point is gained by in-
ducing persons to come within the walls of a church;
though the motives which guide them thither should be
idle or worthless, yet when they are once there, better
thoughts may be awakened, and "fools who come to
scoff, may remain to prayV

But for the embellishment of our churches, and also for
rendering ornament conducive to instruction, there does
not seem to be, in general, any method readier, or more

a I do not mean to imply a belief
either that really religious persons will
be attracted to a place of worship by its
splendour, or repelled from it by its
poverty : but I certainly think that the
proper embellishment of churches is not
a trivial matter. An inordinate expen-
diture for this purpose is unjustifiable
when so many other important works

remain to be done ; but money thus
applied, with discretion, affords an evi-
dence of the earnestness of the rich for
the cause of religion, and of their wil-
lingness to bestow a part of their wealth
in such a way, as may render the poorest
partakers of its benefits in common with
themselves.

EMPLOYMENT OF PAINTED GLASS &C.

227

universally applicable than the ancient and long approved
one furnished by painted glass. The only instances in
which even the richest and most splendid painted window
can be inapplicable, are those in which it would darken the
building too much ; or, where the walls of the edifice are
adorned with paintings. The grounds of the first objection
are too obvious to require comment : with regard to the
last, it should be remarked, that an equally advantageous
display of rich glass paintings and mural paintings in the
same building is impossible. A mural painting, however
gorgeous, cannot vie with a glass painting in brilliancy, but
must materially suffer by the contrast. The colours of a
translucent painting will always overpower those of a pic-
ture which only reflects light. If therefore full effect is to
be ensured to the mural painting, the means of a disadvan-
tageous comparison should be removed, by rendering the
paintings in the windows as little obtrusive as possible,
both in design and colour. They should in fact be reduced
to mere patterns, principally composed of white glass; even
yellow should be sparingly introduced into them, and no
other colours admitted more positive than pinks, and
purples, &c. Thus the full power of painted glass cannot
be developed consistently with the effective display of
mural paintingsb ; but inasmuch as the latter kind of deco-

b The Munich artists seem quite aware
of this palpable fact. The Maria Hilf
church, in the suburb Au of Munich,
whose windows are adorned with rich
painted glass, has no fresco paintings on
its walls, while the St. Ludwig's kirche,
and the Hof Capelle, which are adorned
with beautiful frescoes, have their win-
dows almost entirely filled with white
patterns ; the little colour that is intro-
duced into them being confined to the
narrow border which surrounds the de-
sign. These windows in their general
effect resemble plates of silver, and con-
trast harmoniously with the rich gilding
and painting which decorate the interior

of the building. It is clear that figures
executed in white and yellow glass,
would not produce an effect as satisfac-
tory as that of a mere pattern, owing to
their greater tendency to distract the
spectator's attention from the mural
paintings.

I of course do not mean to say that
glass paintings should be banished from
a building whose walls are adorned, how-
ever elaborately, with ornamental pat-
terns executed in paint, or gilding, or
both. These patterns are not injured by
the splendour of the glass, and they
rather tend to increase its effect.

228 EMPLOYMENT OF PAINTED GLASS

ration seldom extensively exists in a church, a painted win-
dow, however rich, is hardly ever out of place there, and it
can be introduced when grandeur in the structure, and
architectural beauty of any kind, are quite impossible.

The application of this mode of decoration, however, re-
quires a good deal of consideration, and I therefore propose
to offer a few remarks respecting it.

The first requisite in a painted window for a church is,
of course, that it should be appropriate; that is to say,
that it should be of a character suitable to a church, and
not to a dwelling-house, or secular building. I think also
that it must be conceded, that in a Protestant church, it
should be of a Protestant character, and accordingly free
from those legends and symbols for which Protestants have
neither reverence nor belief; and a third requisite is, that
if possible it should be rendered subservient to edification
or instruction. A good pattern window is no doubt always
preferable to a bad picture window, and in large buildings
an intermixture of both pattern and picture windows is
generally desirable, but I think as a general rule that
patterns should not be used to the total exclusion of pic-
tures, unless this is rendered expedient by economy, or such
other circumstances as have already been adverted toc.

I do not suppose that there can be any prejudice at the
present day, against the representation in churches of Scrip-
tural subjects, or the portraits of saints. The established
and recognised use of altar-pieces is of itself a sanction for

c Pattern windows in the Perpendicu-
lar style, may often be made the vehicle
of some appropriate expression of prayer
or praise, by inscribing short passages
on diagonal strips of glass inserted be-
tween every two rows of quarries. It is
a matter of indifference whether the in-
scriptions be written in an upward or
downward direction, although the latter
is most usual in ancient examples : the

best is that which enables the inscription
to be most easily read. The puerile con-
ceit that the former should be adopted,
because "praise should ascend," is only
equalled by Dogberry's mode of express-
ing his reverence for the name of God :

" ■ Write down that they hope

they serve God, and write God first, for
God defend but God should go before
such villains ! "

AS A MEANS OF DECORATION.

229

the introduction of pictures into windows ; and to portraits
of saints there seems to be as little objection. They are
merely the representations of persons distinguished in
Church history, who by their virtues, or services to religion,
have earned a title to respect. No one can suppose that
either portraits of saints or other scriptural subjects are
introduced into a church with any other view than for the
purpose of ornament, or possibly of example and instruc-
tion. But against the representation of unscriptural sub-
jects, there is in Protestant minds a general and well
founded objection. And here an imitation of some of the
older glass paintings may lead into mischievous error. In
these, legends of saints which are wholly or in part fabu-
lous, and incidents in ecclesiastical history which rest
merely on uncertain tradition, are frequently found. To
adopt these subjects is to give a sanction and currency to
fiction; they should therefore be rigidly excluded, and
cannot be justified by the authority of ancient examples.
A strict adherence to the principle of giving no sanction to
fiction, might possibly exclude some worthies whose claim
to veneration rests on no certain ground, but patron saints,
though their history may be apocryphal, have a claim which
it would be hard to dispute.

As a general rule, however, it is evidently better to select
for representation, prophets and apostles, or persons who
have really deserved well of mankind ; a rule, which by no
means confines us to those who have chanced to gain the
distinction of canonization, but gives free admission to the
Protestant martyrs, and the Fathers of the Anglican Church.
There are some objects which though not legendary, are
hardly of a Protestant character. The Romish veneration
for relics gives to the instruments of the Crucifixion, such
as the nails, the hammer, the ladder, the scourge, the crown
of thorns, &c, an importance which Protestants do not

230

EMPLOYMENT OF PAINTED GLASS

commonly allow them, and therefore we should not affect it
by giving them a prominent place in our designs.

Representations of God the Father d, the Trinity, and

d It appears from the report of the
proceedings in the Star Chamber, Feb. 6,
1632, (State Trials, vol. i. p. 399,)
against Henry Sherfield, Esq., recorder
of Salisbury, for breaking a painted
window in a church of that city, repre-
senting the Creation, that he was moved
to do so, principally by a representation
of God the Father, which he considered
profane and idolatrous. His answer to
the information contains so lively a de-
scription of the window that it is worth
giving an extract from it. "He saith
that this window and the painting there-
on was not a true representation of the
creation, for that it contained divers
forms of little old men in blue and red
coats, and naked in the hands and feet, for
the picture of God the Father : and in one
place He is set forth with a pair of com-
passes in His hands laying them upon the
sun and moon : and the painter hath set
Him forth creating the birds on the third
day, and hath placed the pictures of beasts,
man and woman, the man a naked man,
and the woman naked in some part, as
much as from the knees upwards, rising
out of the man ; and the seventh day he
therein hath represented the like image
of God sitting down and taking His rest:
whereas the defendant conceiveth this to
be false, for there is but one God, and
this representeth seven Gods, and the
sun and moon were not made on the

third but on the fourth day, nor

did the Lord God so create woman as
rising out of man, but He took a rib of
the man when he was in a deep sleep,
and thereof made He the woman, in all
which the workman was mistaken," &c.

Representations of God the Father
are condemned by most of the members
of the Star Chamber in giving their
judgments; the only one who defends
them is Neale, archbishop of York.
"The question," he says, "is whether
it is unlawful to express God the Father
by any representation, I think it is not
unlawful in itself. The eternity of
Alpha and Omega doth appear in Christ,
and Christ is the image of His Father."

Laud disapproves of such a represen-
tation. "As touching the matter in
question I do not think it lawful to make

the picture of God the Father : but it is
lawful to make the picture of Christ, and
Christ is called the express image of His
Father. I do not mean to say that the
picture of Christ as God the Son, may be
made, for the Deity cannot be pourtrayed
or pictured though the humanity may.
1 do not think but the representation of
God the Father, (as in the prophet
Daniel He is called the ancient of days)
hath been allowed (though erroneously)
to be made like an ancient old man : and
this the Lutheran party hold too: but
whether it be idolatrous or superstitious
or no, this I hold not to be the question,
and I shall crave liberty not to declare
mine opinion at this time, whether it
ought to be removed."

Notwithstanding the opinion expressed
by Laud in Sherfield's case, a similar
representation of God the Father was
among the subjects in the windows re-
stored by him at Lambeth. The alleged
setting up, or restoration of these win-
dows, which took place the year after
his translation to Canterbury, gave great
offence, and was urged against him on
his impeachment, though as he said
"the repairing and setting up of the pic-
tures was no high treason by any law."
In his defence he alleges, among other
things, that he had only restored the
windows.

"The first thing the commons have in
their evidence charged against me, is the
setting up and repairing popish images
and pictures in the glass windows of my
chappel at Lambeth, and amongst others,
the picture of Christ hanging on the cross
between the two thieves in the east win-
dow ; of God the Father in the form of a
little old man with a glory striking Miriam
with a leprosie ; of the Holy Ghost de-
scending in the form of a dove ; and of
Christ's nativity, last supper, resurrec-
tion, ascension, and others ; the pattern
whereof Mr. Prynn attested I took out
of the very mass book, wherein he shewed
their portraitures. To which I answer,
first, that I did not set these images up,
but found them there before. Secondly,
that I did only repair the windows which
were so broken, and the chappel which
lay so nastily before, that I was ashamed

AS A MEANS OF DECORATION .

231

the Holy Ghost, are much better avoided. They cannot
by any possibility convey to us an adequate idea of these
awful mysteries of the Christian religion, and may excite
very false notions in the minds of the ignorant, as well as
supply materials for many a vulgar or profane jest. The
same objection of course does not apply to the ordinary
representations of our Saviour.

With regard to symbols, there may be much difference
of opinion. My own is decidedly hostile to them. To
some persons they are offensive, to most they are unin-
telligible, and in very few perhaps of those who do under-
stand their meaning, are they capable of awakening any
sentiments of piety or veneration. If any interest attaches
to ancient symbols, it is an antiquarian interest j they are
valued because they are old, and because they are witnesses
to the religious feeling and modes of thinking of the age of
which they are relics, and to which they carry back the
imagination. But we know that the modern copies are an
unreal mockery, the production not of a congenial mind,

to behold, and could not resort unto it
but with some disdain, which caused me
to repair it to my great cost. Thirdly,
that I made up the history of these old
broken pictures, not by any pattern in
the mass-book, but only by help of the
fragments and remainders of them, which
I compared with the story."

His adversaries retorted upon him that
"he might have new glazed the windows
with unpainted glass, for the tenth part
of that his painted windows cost him."
(Rush worth, Hist. Collections, vol. iii.
p. 273. ed. 1680.)

From the report in the State Trials
the Lincoln's Inn windows seem to have
had a narrow escape. Laud in arguing
that images in glass windows were not
within the statute of Edward VI. as had
been asserted, observes, "I could not but
wonder that Mr. Browne should be so
earnest in this point, considering he is of
Lincoln's Inn, where Mr. Prynn's zeal
hath not yet beaten down the images of
the apostles in the fair windows of that
chapel : which windows were set up new

long since that statute of Edward VI.
And it is well known, that I was once
resolved to have returned this upon Mr.
Browne in the house of commons, but
changed my mind, lest thereby I might
have set some furious spirit on work to
destroy those harmless goodly windows,
to the just dislike of that worthy society."
State Trials, vol. iv. p. 455. Laud, in one
part of his defence, ( " State Trials,"
vol. i. p. 884. fol. ed.,) refers to Calvin
[1. Inst. c. 11. § 12.] as approving the
use of pictures which contain a his-
tory, although condemning " images in
churches." It is worthy of remark
that the painted windows in the cathe-
dral of Geneva were suffered to remain
and were existing as late as 1646. " The
church," says Evelyn, " is very decent
within ; nor have they at all defaced ye
painted windows, which are full of pic-
tures of saints ; nor the stalls, which are
all carv'd with ye history of our B.
Saviour." — Evelyn's "Memoirs," vol. i.
p. 384. edit. 1827.

232 EMPLOYMENT OF PAINTED GLASS

but a mere mechanical hand, and we turn from them with
indifference or contempt. Unless we could revive the
modes of thinking which rendered them interesting and
impressive, symbols cannot be better than frigid and idle
ornaments ; and it may be questionable how far the em-
ployment of some symbols as mere ornaments, considering
the peculiarity of their forms, can be justified on any prin-
ciple of good taste.

If it should be thought that the objections which I have
urged against symbols are without weight, I should still
suggest that it is injudicious at the present day, when hos-
tility to every thing savouring of popery has been awakened,
to run the risk of raising a prejudice against so useful and
appropriate a style of ornament as painted windows, by
wounding this sensitiveness, even though we should think
it excessive : no pretext should be afforded for a repetition
of the quaint puritanical remark, that popery can creep in
at a glass window as well as at a door. There surely re-
mains a sufficiently wide field for the exercise of the art,
and for the choice of subjects, the representations of which
can shock no man's opinions, — subjects which belong to all
time, being founded on incidents universally admitted as
true by the whole Christian world, and whose importance is
irrespective of the adventitious circumstances of fashion or
opinion6. Abundance of these, rich in instruction and in-
terest, and affording full scope for the skill and ingenuity of
the artist, may be found in the parallelism between the Old
and New Testamentsf, — The history of our Saviour's life,—
His miracles, — most of the Parables, — the Acts of the

e Oliver Cromwell, who has the credit pushed to a great extent by the old artists,

of haying been a very zealous destroyer It is often extremely fanciful and far-

of " idolatrous pictures," preserved to fetched: many instances of this maybe

this country the cartoons of Raphael, seen in the Appendix (C). The modern

now at Hampton Court. These may be artist will of course treat as typical those

taken as examples of " Catholic Art," in events and circumstances only which

the proper sense of the word. there is sufficient authority for consider-

' The relation of type and antitype is ing to be so.

AS A MEANS OF DECORATION.

233

Apostles, &c. — Representations of such subjects cannot, I
think, be without advantage. A picture is to the eye what
language is to the ear ; — or rather it seems to convey an
idea in a more lively manner, and will excite more attention
than a mere narration. Hence besides constituting splendid
ornaments, painted windows representing scriptural sub-
jects, may serve to refresh the memory, — to fix wandering
thoughts, — to place a familiar idea in a new light, — to
suggest some sentiment, — or awaken a spirit of enquiry. To
produce such beneficial results, however, it is obvious that
the painting should not be a mere conventionalism, or
something incomprehensible except to the initiated; but
that it should, as far as possible, be a faithful representation
of truth and natures. Whatever subject is chosen, it should
be treated by the glass painter in the same spirit as it would
be by any other artist : that is to say, according to the best
of his skill and information, and as if he were addressing
himself to intelligent spectators, and not to the uncritical
population of the middle ages, or to their immediate suc-
cessors11. As I shall recur to this topic, I shall only further

k It was for instruction that pictures which will perhaps have the greater
were anciently placed in churches. weight as they are made by a zealous
" Picturae ecclesiarum sunt quasi libri admirer of the arts and virtues of those
laicorum," an observation of which a times: — " Le moyen age introduit vo-
striking illustration occurs in the fol- lontiers le grotesque dans les scenes
lowing passage from the introduction to d'enfer. Mais c'est le grotesque terrible
the third book of the treatise of Theo- d'une epoque qui croit, et pour laquelle
philus :— " Quod si forte Dominica? pas- le rire dans cette matiere n'est qu'un as-
sionis effigiem lineamentis expressam saisonnement effrayant de la cruaute.
conspicatur fidelis anima, compungitur; C'est done bien moins du rire que du
si quanta sancti pertulerint in suis cor- sarcasme. II ne faut pas s'y meprendre
poribus cruciamina, quantaque vitas ae- et imaginer que les memes moyens puis-
ternae perceperint prasmia conspicit, vitae sent etre encore de saison aujourd'hui
melioris observantiam accipit ; si quanta que ce grotesque, au lieu de faire frison-
sint in coelis gaudia, quantaque in tar- ner preterait a une sorte de divertisse-
tareis flammis cruciamenta intuetur, spe ment. On doit s'apercevoir que cette re-
de suis bonis actibus animatur, et de marque pourrait etre fort etendue. II est
peccatorum suorum consideratione for- telle representation que j'ai developpee
midine concutitur." avec quelque complaisance dans les vi-

h The impropriety of reproducing at traux de Bourges ou de Lyon, et que

the present day representations only fitted je de"sapprouverais tres-formellement

for the coarser minds and less cultivated dans une ceuvre du xixe. siecle. Car il

taste of the middle ages, has not escaped ne faut pas imiter servilement : c'est P

the author of the following remarks, esprit surtout que nous devons chercher

h h

234 EMPLOYMENT OF PAINTED GLASS

remark, that what would be condemned on canvass, ought
not to be admitted on glass. It is as unnecessary and
foolish to continue in modern glass paintings the extrava-
gant drawing, anachronisms, and absurdities, of the me-
dieval glass painters, as it would be to imitate in a modern
fresco the imperfect and rude execution of the Byzantine
artists.

With regard to the introduction of armorial bearings
into church windows, I think that the practice cannot be
objected to on any stronger ground than that which has
sometimes been made to the insertion of the donor's name,
or any allusion to it. The objection is an over-refined one,
though of very old standing1. It appears to be founded on
a morbid humility, which is not acted upon in other cases,
and if followed up, would exclude monuments from our
churches altogether. Armorial bearings only supply an
additional memorial of the person who caused the work to
be constructed, and in after times may be useful in esta-
blishing a date. In many ancient windows the existence of
a shield of arms has contributed to determine the period of
its construction. If armorial bearings are admitted at all,
I see no greater impropriety in placing them in an east
window than in any other j even granting, for argument's
sake, that we are bound to regard the eastern part of an
ecclesiastical edifice with peculiar reverence. Our Roman
Catholic ancestors certainly had no scruples of this kind ;
for the insertion of coats of arms in the east windows of
cathedrals and churches is of far too frequent occurrence

a saisir dans les monuments des ages loft of the church of St. Michael, " to the

de foi."— Monographie de la Cathedrale intent that our souls by reason thereof

de Bourges, p. 236, note. may the rather be there remembered and

1 See Appendix (D). prayed for."— Sir H. Nicolas's Testa-

_ That armorial bearings were some- menta Vetusta, p. 466. It is unjust,

times placed in churches in an humble therefore, in the absence of any proof, to

spirit is apparent from the will of Vis- assume that armorial bearings are neces-

countess L'Isle (dated 1500), by which sarily marks of ostentation and vanity,

she directs the arms of her husbands and to exclude them accordingly from

and herself, to be set up in the high rood- churches.

AS A MEANS OF DECORATION.

235

to be regarded as an exception to any general rule of ex-
clusion : nor can the practice be considered as an inno-
vation, and a departure from ancient propriety, since ex-
amples of it are quite as frequent at the close of the four-
teenth century as at any other period, and possibly may be
met with of a still earlier date.

The importance of church decoration has drawn out my
remarks on this application of glass painting to a consi-
derable extent. Its employment in secular buildings calls
for fewer observations. It evidently forms an ornament
which may occasionally be introduced into them with great
advantage. Painted windows, and especially pattern win-
dows, composed merely of round glass with a painted
border, would in many domestic buildings be found as
effectually to exclude the sight of some disagreeable object,
as panes of common ground, or corrugated glass, besides
being infinitely more ornamental. Painted glass is always
appropriate in the windows of the halls of colleges, corpo-
rations, and other public edifices ; its richness and colour
being of course regulated by the general character of the
building, and the number of paintings which adorn its
walls, &c. And here, when it is wished to go beyond a
display of mere heraldry or ornamental patterns, there
exists a wide choice of subjects. Abundance will suggest
themselves in historical incidents, and in such as are of
local, or family interest; portraits, if they can be repre-
sented, are not out of place, and in short any subject
proper for a picture may be adopted, provided it is capable
of being treated within the limits imposed by the true
principles of glass painting \ Here too is the most appro-

k " There is besides Nottingham, an stamping and pressing of vines." — Bar-

auncient house called Chilwell, in which nabie Googe's " Foure Bookes of Hus-

house remaynethyet,asanauncientmonu- bandry," Lond. 1578, quoted in the

merit, in a great windowe of glasse, the notes to Warton's "English Poetry,"

whole order of plantyng, prugning, ed. 1824, vol. ii. p. 265.

236

EMPLOYMENT OF PAINTED GLASS

priate field for the introduction of heraldic achievements
of whatever description, cognizances, and mottoes. Mere
armorial bearings, with their accompaniments of mantlings,
&c, are capable of being rendered highly ornamental, as
may be seen at Ockwell's House, Berks. It is scarcely
necessary to observe, that the remarks which have pre-
viously been made on the treatment of subjects, with
regard to the improved taste and knowledge of the present
day, are in their essential principles not less applicable
to historical than to scriptural glass paintings.

Painted windows have of late years been frequently
erected as memorials of the dead. This is by no means
an innovation, but merely a revival of an ancient custom 1 :
and it is an application of the art of glass painting which
has many claims to be generally adopted.

The sum which will procure a handsome painted win-
dow, would produce a very plain or indifferent tomb ; and
the window will form an ornament to the church, which,
if it is a building of any architectural pretensions, is not
unfrequently disfigured by the introduction of stone monu-
ments. Few things are more misplaced than tablets, urns,

In the sixteenth volume of Boswell's
" Shakspear," a plate is given of a win-
dow at Betley in Staffordshire, on each
quarry of which, a morrice dancer is de-
picted. Curious scenes from domestic life,
as well as subjects from classical history,
often occur in the little circles and ovals
of glass which were introduced into the
windows of secular buildings in the
sixteenth century. The story of Cupid
and Psyche from Raphael's designs, was
represented in the windows of the chateau
d'Ecouen. They were executed by Bar-
nard Palissy. The designs are given in
outline in Lenoir, " Musee des monumens
Francais. Hist, de la Peinture sur Verre,"
Paris, 1803. One of them is also engraved
in Lasteyrie, " Hist, de la Peinture sur
Verre," plate LXXIII.

The windows described by Chaucer,
in the following passage, can be looked
upon as imaginary only, as it occurs in

the relation of a dream : but it is not
too much to infer from it, that subjects
of this kind were represented in the glass
paintings of his times.
" And sooth to sayn, my chamber was
Full well depainted, and with glass
Were all the windows well y-glazed
Full clear, and not an hole y-crazed,
That to behold it was great joy :
For wholly all the story of Troy
Was in the glazing y-wrought thus,
Of Hector, and of King Priamus;
Of Achilles, and of King Laomedon,
And eke of Medea, and of Jason;
Of Paris, Helen, and of Lavine."
— " Book of the Duchess," as quoted in
Ellis' " Specimens of early English
Poets," vol. i. p. 220.

1 This is sufficiently proved by nume-
rous inscriptions either still remaining
in windows, or preserved in antiquarian
books. See Appendix (E).

AS A MEANS OP DECORATION.

237

or the like on the columns of a building, and even when
they occupy merely the walls, they are very frequently out
of character both with the building and with each other,
and present ill-arranged groups of statues and carving, like
those in a sculptor's workshop. Further, if the object of a
monument is to attract attention, and thus preserve the
memory of the person to whom it is erected, this end can
hardly be more effectually obtained than by a painted win-
dow, which even a careless spectator is not likely to over-
look; whereas even well-executed marble monuments are
often of necessity placed out of sight.

It may naturally be objected that glass is too frail a
material for a monument. Experience, however, sufficiently
refutes this objection. The quantity of ancient glass which
has been preserved in this country, in spite of its having
been exposed at two different times to the violence of reli-
gious zeal, as well as treated with intentional neglect m,
hardly less injurious in its consequences, shews that it is
not necessarily of a perishable nature. Much has perished,
but so have innumerable monuments in brass and marble :
and perhaps it may be a question whether the work of the
glass painter has after all fared so very much worse than
that of the sculptor : however this may be, the simple fact
that there are in existence windows five or six centuries
old, sufficiently proves that there is no objection to painted
glass on the ground of its want of durability.

In conclusion I must state that a monumental window is

" As for churches themselves, belles,
and times of morning and evening praier
remain as in times past, saving that all
images, shrines, tabernacles, rood-loftes,
and monuments of idolatrie are removed
taken down and defaced: onlie the
stories in glasse windowes excepted,
which for want of sufficient store of
new stuffe, and by reason of extreame
charge that should grow by the altera-

tion of the same into white panes
throughout the realme, are not altoge-
ther abolished in most places at once,
but by little and little suffered to decaie,
that white glasse may be provided and
set up in their roomes." — Harrison's
" Description of England," (temp. Q.
Elizabeth,) prefixed to Hollingshed's
" Chronicle," book ii. ch. 1. p. 233.

238 EMPLOYMENT OE PAINTED GLASS &C.

not confined to any particular design or subject. Pattern
windows, or windows containing portraits of saints, or other
scriptural pictures, are equally appropriate. The addition
of a short inscription shewing the intention with which
the window is erected, is all that is required to render
it monumental. Ancient windows commonly introduce a
portrait of the deceased, or of the donor of the window,
and it has been made a question whether this practice
should be adhered to. As to the propriety, strictly speak-
ing, of a portrait, there is evidently no difference between
a painted representation of an individual, and a sculptured
one. But considering the limited power possessed by the
glass painter of imitating nature, it strikes me that if a
portrait is desired, this object will be better attained by
means of marble, or of a fresco painting. But indeed no
further allusion to the deceased is required than the men-
tion of his name in an inscription, or the insertion into the
window of his armorial bearings.

SECTION II.

ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING.

Every method of painting, from the nature of the mate-
rial employed in it, is more or less fit than others for the
production of certain effects. The capabilities of some kinds
of painting are greater than those of others, but which-
ever an artist has occasion to adopt, it is evident that his
efforts should be confined to a skilful application of the
means which it places at his disposal. He should endea-
vour to develope its resources to the fullest extent ; but he
ought not to seek excellencies which are incompatible with

ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OP GLASS PAINTING. 239

its inherent properties. Failure must necessarily result
from an attempt to produce in one mode, effects which
are only attainable in another. Hence a great part of the
artist's skill consists in the invention of a design, and
mode of execution, calculated under the circumstances to
display to the best advantage the excellencies, and conceal
the imperfections, peculiar to that method of painting
which he is called upon to employ.

Obvious as the preceding remarks may appear, they will
be by no means superfluous if they serve to call the atten-
tion of the glass painter to the consequences which result
from the nature of the material on which he paints j since
it is to a disregard or defiance of these consequences that
the erroneous system which long prevailed in the prac-
tice of the art, and possibly its decline, are mainly to be
ascribed. The artist who undertakes to practise glass
painting should bear in mind that he is dealing with a
material essentially different from any with which he has
hitherto been familiar, and his first object should of course
be to obtain a thorough knowledge of the peculiarities and
of the extent of the available means of his art • of the
excellencies which ought to be developed, and the defects
which should be concealed. The nature of these excel-
lencies and defects, and the best modes of displaying the
former and remedying the latter as far as circumstances
will allow, will form the subjects of the following enquiry.

The chief excellence of a glass painting is its trans-
lucency. A glass painting by possessing the power of
transmitting light in a far greater degree than any other
species of painting, is able to display effects of light and
colour with a brilliancy and vividness quite unapproachable
by any other means.

On the other hand this same diaphonous quality is the
source of certain defects, such as the limited scale of colour,

240 ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING.

and of transparent shadow, observable in a glass painting,
of which its inherent flatness is a necessary result.

These peculiarities will be found to restrict the success-
ful application of glass painting to a particular class of
subjects.

Another peculiarity of a glass painting, which has the
same tendency, is its mechanical construction. Lead- work
and saddle-bars, or some other mechanical contrivance, have
been shewn to be essentially necessary for the support of
the glass, and to enable the painting to discharge one of
its most useful functions, the exclusion of the weather.
But the metal-work, on account of its opacity, cannot be
concealed : and in whatever manner it may be arranged, it
causes the picture to be traversed by a number of black
lines.

These remarkable features of a glass painting then render
it unfit for the representation of certain subjects. Such as
essentially demand a picturesque treatment, are better suited
to an oil, or water colour painting, than to a glass paint-
ing, the pictorial resources of which are more limited. A
glass painting is incapable of those nice gradations of
colour, and of light and shade, which are indispensable
for close imitations of nature, and for producing the full
effect of atmosphere and distance. And even if this defect
could be overcome, the lead or other metal-work would
infallibly ruin the picture. For these reasons it would be
improper to select a landscape, for instance, as the prin-
cipal subject of a glass painting. A subject of this descrip-
tion, though it might form a valuable auxiliary as a back-
ground to a design, would, if executed by itself, only betray
the defectiveness of the art in its flatness and want of
atmosphere. The same objection equally applies to long
perspective views of interiors, and the like. To these may
be added groups of figures, or even single figures requiring

ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING. 241

a great display of foreshortening : and compositions which
do not simply consist of figures confined to the foreground,
but comprise distant groups carried far into the background
of the picture.

The subjects which appear best suited to glass paintings,
are those which, when executed, are of themselves pleasing
objects, and are favourable to a display of the translucent
qualities of glass. Of this kind are ornamental patterns,
[ and a variety of other designs capable of being properly
[represented in a simple, hard, and somewhat flat manner ;
[by broad masses of stiff colouring, hard outlines, and vivid
[contrasts of light and shade. A group sculptured in bass-
I relief would, for example, afford an excellent model for a
(glass painter, on account of its want of apparent depth,
land the means taken to counteract as far as possible this
[cause of indistinctness, — the simplicity of the composition
| namely, and the sharp lights, and broad shadows of the
I figures. Its landscape background might indeed be almost
[ directly copied in a glass painting n.

I will therefore assume that subjects of the kind just
[indicated as best suited to glass paintings, should alone
be selected by the glass painter. In his treatment of
| these subjects moreover he is, I conceive, bound to adopt
such a course as will exhibit the translucency of the glass
as much as circumstances will reasonably allow.

In a pattern this object is of easy accomplishment : but
I in a picture glass painting the union of transparency with
the effect of atmosphere, and apparent depth, so far as

10 The raising of Lazarus, by Sebas- Fine Arts, Lond. 1846, pp. 13, 14. This

tian del Piombo in the National Gallery, Appendix contains a number of sug-

would form, with a little modification, a gestions most valuable to the glass

good design for a glass painting; as painter, and is worthy of an attentive

would also Raphael's cartoons. My perusal. Had I fortunately met with

attention has been directed to these last this work before I commenced the pre-

works by the Appendix, No. 2, to the sent section, it would have saved me

fifth Report of the Commissioners of some time and trouble.

242 ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING.

these latter qualities are attainable, is often attended with
difficulty. I by no means entertain the opinion that a
glass painting is to be estimated merely in proportion to
its sparkling brilliancy, and the beauty of its colours, with-
out regard to its pictorial qualities. If this were so, pattern |
glass paintings should always be preferred to picture glass
paintings ; and geometrical patterns formed of plain pieces
of glass, to patterns enriched with painting. I only assert
that the best picture glass painting is that which most fully
combines the qualities of a good picture, with a display of
the diaphonous property of glass. It ought, no doubt, to be
a translucent picture ; but it should, amongst other things,
exhibit the greatest effect of atmosphere and distance that
can reasonably be imparted to a glass painting, and which \
so materially promote the distinctness of the design. The
accomplishment of this end must necessarily involve a dimi-
nution of the brilliancy of the glass in some parts of the
picture. The extent of this obscuration and the mode by
which it may be effected with the least sacrifice of the bril-
liancy of the work, will form a principal part of the present
enquiry.

In order to render available the translucent quality of
glass to the utmost extent under every conjuncture, thej
artist should, I think, adopt the Mosaic system of glass
painting ; because under this system the most brilliant and
powerful effects of light and colour can be produced. This,
will at once appear on examining the glass which forms the!
raw material of a Mosaic glass painting. Whether it is
white or coloured it is equally transparent ; but this is not!
the case in general with the glass either of an Enamel, or
a Mosaic Enamel glass painting. In these paintings such]
portions of the picture as are coloured either wholly or in]
part with enamels, are not so transparent as the white
parts. Hence, caeteris paribus, a Mosaic glass painting,

ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OE GLASS PAINTING.

243

the whole of whose basis is equally transparent, must be
more diaphonous than an Enamel, or Mosaic Enamel glass
painting ; the ground- work of which is of different degrees
of transparency, varying from that of white glass, to that
of the dullest kind of enamel coloured glass.

It may be said that the Mosaic system does not possess
so extended a scale of colour as the Enamel system ; and
that it is not capable of producing such rich colouring as
the Mosaic Enamel : but its inferiority in these respects to
the other systems is but trifling, and is more than counter-
balanced by its superiority over the Enamel in strength of
colour, and over the Mosaic Enamel, as well as the Enamel,
in point of brilliancy. The truth of this will, I think, be
established by comparing together a Cinque Cento picture
glass painting, and any ancient or modern example of the
Enamel, or Mosaic Enamel systems. It will be found that
the Cinque Cento glass painting is on the whole hardly if
at all inferior to the other works in pictorial effect0 : and
that although its colouring may possibly not be quite as
rich or so varied, as, for instance, that of a Mosaic Enamel
glass painting executed by the Van Linges, it is infinitely
more vivid and powerful than that of an Enamel glass
painting ; whilst at the same time the whole picture is far
more brilliant and transparent than either of the others.

It may also be urged as an objection against the Mosaic
system of glass painting, that the employment of a separate
piece of glass for almost every colour of the design, renders
the use of harsh outlines throughout the picture unavoidable,

0 It would, I apprehend, be impos- cathedral ; the Flemish glass in the apse
sible to meet with any Enamel or Mosaic of Lichfield cathedral ; or the choir win-
Enamel glass paintings, not excepting dows of St. Jacques church, Liege : all
those of the modern French school, which which works are pure specimens of the
are the best of their kind, more effective Mosaic system, and are far more bril-
as pictures than, for instance, the four liant and translucent than any Enamel
Cinque Cento windows of the chapel of or Mosaic Enamel glass paintings that I
the Miraculous Sacrament, Brussels can mention.

244 ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING.

and consequently that it is less favourable than the Enamel
system for pictures. But this objection does not appear to
be well founded.

It has already been stated that no glass painting, unless
it be of very small dimensions, can be constructed without
the aid of metal-work ; and that wherever metal-work is
used there will be the appearance of black lines. To this
law an Enamel glass painting affords no exception : if of
large dimensions it must be composed of many pieces of
glass, and these must be secured in their places either
simply by means of leads, or in a metal frame-work. The
construction of the work does not indeed require that the
leads or metal frame-work should follow the course of the
outlines of the picture, but this is practically the only dif-
ference between an Enamel, and a Mosaic glass painting.
The black lines cannot be got rid of. In some Enamel
glass paintings an attempt is made to avoid the effect of
the metal-work; either by using pieces of glass of the
largest possible dimensions, and moulding the lead or
other frame-work to a few of the principal outlines of
the picture, or else by making it take a course altogether
independent of the design, and cut the glass into a
number of uniform rectangular panes. But neither of
these expedients appears to constitute any improvement
upon the method necessarily adopted in a Mosaic glass
painting, of throwing the lead-work into all the prin-
cipal outlines of the picture, and strengthening it with
saddle-bars. Eor besides the inconvenience resulting from
the use of very large pieces of glass, the first-mentioned
mode is objectionable on account of the inharmonious
prominency which the opacity of the metal-work imparts
to the particular outlines it follows : a prominency the
more striking on account of the weak colouring of an
Enamel glass painting. And the second mode, though

ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING. 245

perhaps less objectionable than the first, is attended with
this disagreeable effect; that the close net-work of black
lines, through which the picture appears to be seen, dis-
tracts the attention from the painting itself.

The construction of a Mosaic glass painting appears
indeed to be on the whole more favourable to the effect of
the picture than that of an Enamel glass painting. For the
lead-work being generally and pretty equally diffused over
the whole design, is on that account less noticed than if its
course were confined only to a few particular outlines.
I may also add that the colouring and execution of a
Mosaic glass painting greatly tend to disguise the lead-
work. The saddle-bars must however be admitted to be
very prominent objects, though from the style of the
painting, they are perhaps less prominent than the lead or
metal-work of an Enamel painting. The eye soon becomes
reconciled to them. They are indeed so essential to the
stability of the lead- work that their absence would only
suggest a disagreeable feeling of weakness and insecurity.
In some respects they assist the effect of the picture, di-
minishing by contrast the apparent width of the leads, and
throwing back the picture, with the design of which they
in no wise interfere. It has been already remarked in a
former part of this book, that the metallic frame-work of an
Early English medallion window decidedly improves the
effect of the glass, by rendering the main divisions of the
design more distinct.

From these considerations, I think I am justified in con-
cluding that the Mosaic system of glass painting is, on the
whole, the best system to be adopted. I shall now proceed
to enquire into the proper application of this system, parti-
cularly with reference to the developement of the resources
of the art of glass painting, consistent with a due pre-
servation of its translucent powers.

246 ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OE GLASS PAINTING.

An attention merely to form, contrast of colour, and
magnitude of parts, will suffice to ensure to some subjects
of the glass painter's art, proper distinctness and effect,
— as, for instance, patterns, either simply composed of
various pieces of plain glass, or enriched with ornaments
added with the pencil. And in these subjects there is
no difficulty in exhibiting the transparency of the material
to its greatest extent. But in a picture glass painting, —
especially one consisting not of a single figure, but of a
group, — though the nature and treatment of the subject
itself, the size of the different objects represented, and
the arrangement of its colouring, may all powerfully con-
tribute to produce distinctness ; full effect cannot be given
to the work without having recourse to strong shadows,
contrasted with brilliant lights.

A proof of this is afforded by all the picture glass paint-
ings which were executed previously to the beginning of the
sixteenth century. They are but brilliant Mosaics. Their
universal defect is, that, like patterns, they are as flat in
appearance as the glass actually is on which they are
painted. A single figure placed under a canopy, owing to
the simplicity of the design, the breadth and contrasts of
its colouring, and the magnitude of its parts, usually pre-
serves a certain degree of distinctness : but a group of
figures is but a mass of confusion when seen from a little
distanced This defect arises in general not from any vice

p Some persons for whose opinions I
entertain great respect, regard this very
indistinctness as a beauty rather than as
a defect in a glass painting. I readily
admit that the imagination may be power-
fully excited by the contemplation of a
mere assemblage of brilliant and harmo-
nious tints, such for instance as the east
window of York minster presents, when
viewed from the choir : yet I cannot but
regard as defective a picture glass paint-
ing which creates only such indefinite

impressions. A pattern glass painting
which produces this result is admirable,
for it does not profess to do more when
seen from a distance ; but surely the
fundamental principles of art must <- pply
to glass pictures equally as to all others ;
and in these last it is always an essential
condition that they should appear dis-
tinct from the furthest point whence they
are intended to be viewed. On this ac-
count the east windows of Gloucester and
Winchester cathedrals, and the west win-

ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING. 247

in the composition, — for the design of most medieval groups
is admirably suited to the nature of a glass painting, — nor
from a bad disposition of colours, for the effect is the same
in a late picture, where the more positive tints are confined
to the foreground, and the retiring colours to the back-
ground ; as in an early one, in which no such rule is fol-
lowed;— nor yet from the want of powerful outlines, for
an Early English group is as indistinct as a Perpendicular
one ; — but from a too timid application of shading. It is
to the power of the shadows that the superior distinctness
and effect of a Cinque Cento glass painting are chiefly at-
tributable.

Since then powerful shadows are the principal means of
producing distinctness in a glass painting, and as it is es-
sential that the work should also be both brilliant and trans-
parent, it becomes important to ascertain, if possible, the
mode by which a union of these requisites may be best
effected.

The greater the depth of the shadow, the greater no
doubt will be the force given to the picture ; but the bril-
liancy and general transparency of the picture are in pro-
portion to the brilliancy of its lights, the transparency of
its shadows, and the relative quantities of light and shade.
The picture will be dull, if its lights be not kept clear and
bright, whether its shadows be strong or weak ; opaque if
its shadows be not transparent, notwithstanding the bril-
liancy of its lights ; and heavy if the aggregate volume of
the shadows greatly exceeds that of the lights.

dow of St. Gudule at Brussels, are better Kugler's " Handbook of Painting," vol.i
adapted in design to the situations they p. 206 ; and more pointedly in the second
occupy than the east window of York Appendix to the " Fifth Report of the
minster. Commissioners of Fine Arts," p. 12-^
Michael Angelo, in painting the ceil- that the figures in the former compart-
ing of the Sistine chapel, increased the ments were too diminutive to produce
size of the figures in the compartments the desired effect from the floor of the
he executed last, having observed — as is chapel,
suggested in a note by Mr. Eastlake to

248 ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES 01 GLASS PAINTING.

The dulness and opacity, arising from a want of clear
lights, and transparent shadows, are exemplified in most of
the glass paintings which were executed after the middle of
the sixteenth century, including the productions of the
modern Munich school. And the heaviness occasioned by a
disproportionate preponderance of shadow may likewise be
remarked in many favourite subjects of the above period,
such for instance as large perspective views of the interiors
of buildings : and in landscapes and other pictures in which
vast masses of dark clouds are introduced : of which the
Nativity, at New college chapel, and the Last Judgment,
at Magdalene chapel, Oxford, may be cited as examples.

From these defects the glass paintings of the first half of
the sixteenth century are in general free, although they ex-
hibit shadows as deep and powerful as those of any subse-
quent works. I therefore cannot better illustrate the present
subject than by examining the execution of the glass paint-
ings of this period.

The shadows of every glass painting executed according
to the Mosaic system, are principally produced by the ap-
plication to the glass of a coat of enamel brown ; varying in
thickness according to the required depth of the shadow.
And it is on the superficial extent and texture of this
ground, that the brilliancy and general transparency of the
picture depend. For the brilliancy of any piece of glass
may be as effectually destroyed by spreading over it a thin
coat of enamel brown, as a coat of any other enamel colour :
and since the enamel brown partakes of an opaque nature,
a very trifling increase in the thickness of the coat will, if
the colour be smoothly applied, reduce the glass to a state
of dulness, or even deprive it of all transparency whatever.
It is therefore essential to the brilliancy of the glass paint-
ing, that certain portions of the glass should be left for the
free transmission of light, quite unincumbered with any

ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING. 249

enamel brown. These portions, being the brightest, may
be generally assigned to the strongest lights of the picture :
and in these lights the brown ground must be entirely
removed from off the glass. It is also essential to the
complete transparency of the shadows, — especially when
the painting is intended to occupy a distant position, —
that the enamel ground of which they are composed
should be very coarsely granulated or stippled. A coat
of enamel brown smeared smoothly and evenly on the
glass, will exclude the light more completely in this state
than after it has been rendered irregular in its texture by
the process of stippling. For this process collects the
colour into little lumps or dots, leaving interstices between
them less loaded with colour, and consequently more per-
vious to the rays of light than any part of the ground was
before it was stippled. A stipple shadow is therefore always
more transparent than a smear shadow of equal depth ; and
glass paintings entirely executed with stipple shading, are
consequently on the whole more transparent than those
which are entirely executed with smear shading. Some
analogy may in this respect be perceived between glass
paintings executed with stipple, or with smear shadows,
and line and mezzotint engravings • in which a perfectly
opaque matter, — printing ink, — is employed. The degree
of transparency exhibited by the print as essentially de-
pends on the light which is reflected back from the white
paper forming the interstices between the black particles of
the ink, as that of the glass painting depends on the light
which is suffered to pass through the less dense interstices
of the brown ground. These interstices are more regular
and better defined in a line engraving than in a mezzotint,
and to this the former owes its superior clearness and
transparency.

It will be found on examination that in all glass paint-

k k

250 ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING.

ings of the first half of the sixteenth century, equally as in
the earlier Perpendicular examples, the shadows in half
tint are abruptly terminated, and the vivid lights of the
picture formed by entirely scraping off portions, some-
times considerable ones, of the brown enamel ground.
The shadows, especially in the later examples, are al-
ways very coarsely granulated by stippling ; and it will
be observed, as might be expected, that in proportion
to the coarseness of the grain of the enamel ground
are the apparent clearness and juiciness of the shadow.
The mode in which the shadow was applied had also
a very favourable effect on its transparency. The ancient
artists appear never to have applied more than two coats
of enamel to the same side of the glass. They seem to
have first spread a thin stipple ground of enamel brown
all over the glass, and after having cleared the bright lights
out of it, to have heightened the depth of the shadow
by a thicker coat of colour, decreasing in depth as it ap-
proached the lighter parts of the picture, where it became
insensibly blended with the shadow in half tint, formed by
the first ground of colour. This second coat was very
coarsely stippled, and it would seem as if its moisture soft-
ened the first coat, and caused it also to be disturbed by
the stippling ; for the stippling of the second coat appears,
in all the specimens I have examined, to have gone right
through to the glass. This causes the stipple shadows of
an ancient glass painting to be in general clearer and more
transparent than those of a modern glass painting, which
are usually composed of several distinct coats of paint, some
not unfrequently being applied after the others have been
actually burnt in : a practice which has a tendency to fill
up the lighter interstices of the ground, and to counter-
act the effect of the stippling. The ancient artists were
often accustomed to increase the depth of the shadows in

ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING. 251

the darkest parts, by a coat of well-stippled enamel brown
applied to the opposite side of the glass, and which was
made gradually to diminish in strength as it approached the
lighter parts of the shadow ; but this proceeding for some
reason or other does not produce dulness like that oc-
casioned by a third coat of colour on the same side of the
glass. They were also in the habit of further strengthening
the deeper shadows with a hatching of black lines : a mode
by which the transparency of the shadow was preserved
whilst its depth was increased, the interstices between the
lines allowing a passage for the light.

But whilst the artists of the first half of the sixteenth cen-
tury thus successfully combined the use of brilliant lights, and
of powerful and yet transparent shadows, they were careful
to avoid the effect of heaviness by duly proportioning to
each other the aggregate quantities of light and shade in
the picture. It is difficult to determine the relative amount
of these quantities, which varies in almost every case ; nor
do I take upon myself to define it. It will be enough if I
succeed in pointing out, though imperfectly, the method by
which the ancient artists contrived to produce in their
works, principally by means of light and shade, sufficient
distinctness without heaviness.

I have already described in the course of my remarks on
the Cinque Cento style, the method usually adopted by
them to confine within certain limits the masses of deep
shadow, to the use of which their works owe their striking
effect. I allude to the favourite practice of placing the
picture, or scene to be represented, under a canopy or
bower, or beneath an archway.

"When the first-mentioned arrangement is adopted, a
great mass of light is produced by keeping the front of the
head of the canopy, or bower, clear and bright, no more
shadow being there employed than is sufficient to give

252 ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING.

effect to the mouldings and other ornaments represented
on it. The side jambs or pillars of the canopy, and the
front of its base, if it have a base, are likewise but slightly
shaded. This mass of light is strongly contrasted with the
deep shadow which is spread all over the interior of the
niche or recess, and which serves both to give projection to
the figures, and to throw back the bright landscape which
is shewn through the open-work, or windows of the recess,
behind the figures. The same principle of alternately em-
ploying masses of light and shade, is shewn in the treat-
ment of the figures themselves, which commonly have one
side strongly illuminated, and the other in deep shadow ;
the shaded side of one figure being relieved against the
bright side of another, or the bright background displayed
in the distance. It will be observed that the mass of
shadow which covers the interior of the recess, and which
constitutes so important an element of the composition, is
prevented from spreading itself too far in any direction, by
the figures, the side pillars, and front of the canopy. The
shadow is generally relieved in its darkest part, which is
immediately under the hood of the canopy, by reflected
lights cast on the groining of the recess. Examples of this
arrangement are too common in Cinque Cento work to re-
quire notice. I may however mention as good Perpen-
dicular examples of the sixteenth century, the canopies in
Munich cathedral, which have been already particularly
described in the Perpendicular style ; and the windows of
Pairford church, Gloucestershire, which contain the figures
of the twelve apostles. In the windows last mentioned it
is worthy of observation how skilfully the artist has availed
himself of the white scroll inscribed with a portion of the
Creed, which is disposed about the head of each figureq as

' The portion of the Creed written on Fairford Church," Cirencester, 1841,
each scroll is given in the " History of p. 9, as well as the name of the Apostle

ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING. 253

an additional contrast to the shaded interior of the niche ;
and possibly as a means of breaking up what otherwise
might have proved a too extensive mass of shadow.

The other arrangement, — that of placing the group or
picture in front of, or underneath an archway, — does not
differ in principle from that which has just been described,
though it admits of stronger contrasts of light and shade,
and consequently of more vivid effects. The whole front
face of the arch presents a mass of strong light. This is
contrasted with the dark shade of the soffit and inside of
the arch ; and this in its turn is contrasted with the bright
light, which streaming through the aperture of the archway,
is displayed behind the group, and serves as a contrast to
some of the dark shadows of the figures. The figures have
their bright sides and their dark sides, and these alternate
masses of light and shade are contrasted with each other,
with the light and shaded parts of the archway, and with
the light issuing through it. Thus the dark interior of the
archway — forming a mass of shadow the extent of which is
limited — separates the mass of light on the front of the arch,
from the light which apparently passes through the arch, and
most effectually throws back the distant landscape represented
as seen beyond the arch. I should add that the deep mass of
shade in the soffit of the archway, is relieved by strong re-
flected lights cast against the ornaments sculptured on its
surface, and sometimes more effectually by a festoon of
fruit or flowers, hung across the front of the arch, and of
course equally exposed to the influence of a powerful light.
A similar festoon, but in deep shadow, is not unfrequently
suspended across the further side of the arch, and affords
an additional contrast to the mass of light under the arch.

around whose head the scroll is placed. ferent to that set forth in the chapter
The majority of the sentences are di- " De symbolo Apostolorum," Gavanti
vided and appropriated, in a manner dif- Thesaurus, Cologne, 1705, p. 49.

254 ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING.

The effect of both these arrangements is materially pro-
moted by the disposition of the colouring ; but this has al-
ready been sufficiently described in the course of the Per-
pendicular and Cinque Cento styles, and a reference to it now
would only embarrass the subject1-. One of the best and
most simple examples of the last arrangement is afforded
by the windows of the chapel of the Miraculous Sacrament,
Brussels cathedral, which have already been noticed. These
windows, and the remark equally applies to many others of
the same class, are indeed true glass paintings. They ex-
hibit the fullest atmospheric effect that perhaps can be pro-
duced by the art ; and they differ from all other paintings
not only in brilliancy, but in their general nature and ar-
rangement. The statuesque character of the figures per-
fectly accords with the architecture which surrounds them,
and which whilst serving as an ornamental setting to the
picture, is in some instances intimately connected with its
design. At the same time the broad stiff colouring of the
picture, its decided outlines, and its sharp contrasts of light
and shade, perfectly harmonize with the natural stiffness of
a glass painting, arising from its mechanical construction.

The principle of confining the principal masses of shade
within proper limits, may also be observed in those Cinque

r The colouring of a glass painting is
no doubt a point which must be carefully
studied by the artist ; but it is one upon
which little light can be thrown by a
written essay. The proper selection and
arrangement of colours can only be learnt
by studying ancient specimens of glass
painting, and by practice. The colours
of a glass painting differ in many re-
spects from those of an oil painting.
They have the property of intermingling
their tints with each other, so that raw
colours, if placed side by side, will often
produce a very harmonious effect with-
out the assistance of the glass painter.
Ruby, and a light pink glass, preserve
their distinctive tints at a greater dis-
tance than any other colours. Yellow,

and especially stained yellow, is more
apt to diffuse itself than any other tint.
A very slight apparent variation in the
tint of particular colours will prevent
their harmonizing. Hence the difficulty
of reproducing the same design in the
same colours ; for differences in tint may
often be observed in glass made of the
same materials, at the same manufactory,
and on the same day. This difficulty in
obtaining the same tint of colour in glass
may perhaps have prevented the ancient
glass painters from appropriating parti-
cular colours to particular subjects, — as
ecclesiastical dresses, &c. In copying
an oil painting in glass, the artist will in
general be obliged entirely to recast its
colouring.

ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING. 255

Cento picture glass paintings which are not relieved by
being set in an ornamental frame-work of architecture. An
excellent instance of this is afforded by the east window of
St. Margaret's church, Westminster. The painting of the
Crucifixion, which occupies the three central lower lights of
a five-light window is relieved and framed as it were by the
figures and canopies which occupy the outer lights, and the
angels and badges with which the tracery lights are filled.
The principal subject is thus sufficiently supported, without
the intervention of great masses of clouds, or an extended
landscape, which has been shewn to have been resorted to
in later times for this purpose. I might also refer to many
similar examples5.

I have thus endeavoured, however imperfectly, to point
out the great principle adopted in the first half of the six-
teenth century, of preserving the brilliancy and general
transparency of the glass, and of promoting the distinctness
of the design by the use of clear lights, transparent
shadows, and strong contrasts of light and shade. But in
order that we may appreciate the superior execution of the
glass paintings of that period, I propose to make a few ob-
servations on the execution of those which were painted
subsequently to the middle of the sixteenth century.

a The light which falls upon the side
figures and canopies in the St. Mar-
garet's window, in either case proceeds
from one side of the picture, so that the
bright side of each figure is contrasted
with the dark side of the niche, and vice
versa. The painting of the Visitation , in
one of the windows of the south aisle of the
choir of York minster, — to which refer-
ence has already been made (ante, p. 209),
though inferior as a glass painting to
many Cinque Cento examples, shews
that the principles of glass painting were
not forgotten even in the latter part of
the 16th century. The original painting
from which the glass was designed (of
which I have seen a copy in the posses-

sion of Mr. Ward, the glass painter),
abounds in deep masses of shadow, which
do not appear in the glass painting.
Their exclusion no doubt arose from the
conviction that though a source of beauty
in an oil painting, such extensive masses
would only have rendered the glass
painting heavy. The colouring of the
oil painting has also been departed from
in the glass; a step probably rendered
necessary by the altered character given
to the design by the exclusion of the
deep masses of shadow. The glass paint-
ing, I think, must originally have been
enclosed within an ornamental frame-
work of architecture.

256 ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING.

The dullness and opacity of all these works may be as-
cribed less to an increased use of enamel colours, than to
the mode of their application. Some enamel colours are
naturally more transparent than enamel brown ; none are
less transparent than it.

The commonest defect of glass paintings after the mid-
dle of the sixteenth century, is the absence in them of
clear lights. This is in some cases caused by not suffi-
ciently removing the enamel brown ground from the
glass in the lights of the picture; in others, by pur-
posely spreading a thin coat of a white enamel colour
on the back of the glass, over the lights and shadows
alike. The result in either case is to destroy the bril-
liancy of the material, producing the same effect as if
the painting had been executed on ground glass. In no
glass paintings is this defect more conspicuous than in
the works of the modern Munich school. The German
artists have adopted the Mosaic Enamel system; and
with the object probably of reducing the brilliancy of
the manufactured coloured glass, to a level with the dul-
ness of the glass coloured with enamel colours, their
practice is to spread a very heavy coat of white enamel
all over the back of the glass. No rays of light are
therefore permitted any where to pass directly through
the glass as in a Cinque Cento glass painting, and the
work in consequence assumes a dull, heavy, and substan-
tial appearance, quite opposed to the translucent and un-
substantial character of a true glass painting*. The eye
seeks in vain for a few clear spots through which it may be
carried a little beyond the actual plane surface of the painting.

' Some of the smaller works of the at Munich, and also in the windows of

Munich school, rather resemble in their Kildown church near Tunbridge Wells,

opacity and high finish paintings on These may be cited as fine specimens of

porcelain than glass paintings. The dul- the practice of the modern Munich school

ness noticed in the text is very apparent of glass painting,
in the windows of the Maria Hilf church

ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING. 257

The shadows also soon after the middle of the sixteenth
century became, in general, opaque and heavy. This arose
partly from omitting to stipple their ground sufficiently,
partly from a practice, which may be detected even in
some of the later Cinque Cento works, of heightening the
deeper shadows with broad, smear, unstippled patches, or
dabs of Enamel brown.

This defect is particularly observable in the Dutch glass
paintings of the latter half of the sixteenth century, and
the works of the Van Linge school; coupled with the
absence of clear lights, it transformed glass paintings from
translucent pictures, to objects scarcely exceeding in actual
transparency, fresco, or oil paintings. In general trans-
parency of tone, an oil painting is very superior to one
of these glass paintings ; which are often disfigured by
shadows having a certain degree of transparency when
closely examined, but which appear perfectly black when
seen at a distance.

The shadows and general tone of the glass paintings of
the eighteenth century, from the colour being applied in
little hatches with a brush, as in an oil painting, are upon
the whole more transparent than those of the paintings
which have just been noticed. Such shadows are how-
ever not so clear, and are by no means so effective, as
shadows produced by a coarsely stippled ground".

It would admit of easy demonstration that the excellent
system of glass painting which grew up in the middle ages,
had an accidental origin, and continued to be so long prac-
tised, rather because it presented the sufficient means of
competing with the hard and dry productions of the medi-
eval oil and water colour painters, than from any philo-

u I have collected in a note at the paintings which I have particularly exa-
end of this section, some remarks illus- mined,
trating the execution of several glass

L 1

258 ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING.

sophical consideration of its intrinsic merit as a method of
art. And that the developement of its powers in the first
half of the sixteenth century, was the consequence not of
the adoption of any fixed principle of execution, but the
mere desire on the part of glass painters to emulate, as far
as they could, the wonderful effects which had then been
attained in oil painting. This consideration, whilst it may
serve to account for the rapid deterioration of the art of
glass painting in the latter half of the sixteenth century,
should operate as a warning to modern artists not igno-
rantly to confound the principles which belong to essen-
tially distinct systems of painting ; the one having for its
object the production of effect by the transmission of light
through the picture ; the other, by the reflection of light
from its surface. The glass painters of the latter half of
the sixteenth century, and subsequently, in a vain endea-
vour to compass the beauties which essentially belong to
the art of oil painting, lost sight of the excellencies of their
own art. The result is, that after nearly three hundred years
of misconception of its principles, and mistaken practice,
the art of glass painting has not yet regained the point of
excellence it had attained in the middle of the sixteenth
century. Whether it will ever surpass that point is a ques-
tion on which I offer no opinion ; of one thing I am certain,
it will not reach that point unless the principles of the art,
whatever they may be, are adhered to and carried out x.
In conclusion I must call attention to some practical

x I am not so presumptuous as to sup-
pose that some of the rules I have at-
tempted to establish are not susceptible
of modification and improvement. For in-
stance, I think, that enamel colours, the
use of which would be excluded by a rigid
adherence to the Mosaic system of glass
painting, may be introduced for parti-
cular purposes, as to tint the flesh-colour
of the figures. But I am decidedly op-
posed, for the reasons already given, to

their more extensive employment.

The colouring of the flesh by means
of enamels to a greater extent than it
was carried in the Cinque Cento period,
has long been with me an open question.
But I have now come to the conclusion,
that the flesh, if coloured at all, ought to
be fully coloured. The new window for
Christ Church, Bloomsbury, has princi-
pally determined me.

ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OE GLASS PAINTING. 259

questions important in their bearing on glass painting, —
the proper width of the leads, and the distances at which
the saddle-bars should be placed apart.

The ancient artists though they never shrank from the
employment of lead-work, never unnecessarily used it. On
the contrary their efforts were constantly directed to its
disguise, by making it constitute as much as possible an
integral part of the design.

In geometrical patterns formed of plain pieces of glass,
(and which are the more interesting since they undoubtedly
exhibit the germ of the Mosaic system of glass painting,)
the outlines of the pattern are entirely represented by the
lead-work ; and in patterns enriched with painting, and in
pictures themselves, the leads constitute most of the prin-
cipal outlines, and are in general not distinguishable from
the outlines painted on the glass.

But it is evident that to ensure the disguise of the lead-
work the width of the leads must be proportionate to that
of the lines usually painted on the glass : for the leaden
outlines will easily be detected if they are much stronger
than the painted outlines7. In other words the leads
should be as narrow in the leaf as they can be made with
safety.

The lead anciently used is not wider than (and some-
times is not quite so wide as) three sixteenths of an inch in
the leaf z, and this will be generally found to harmonize in

y In proof of this I need only refer to
cut 6, p. 79; and plates 60, and 61 ; in
which broad lead is represented ; and
plate 8, in which the effect of modern
fret lead is shewn.

1 The profile and face of some ancient
leads of the ordinary width, have already
been shewn (p. 27) in cut 3, figs. 1,
2, and 3. But leads somewhat narrower
in the leaf than these, were very exten-
sively employed. An entire window at
Stowting church, Kent, probably of the
early part of the reign of Edward IV.,

was leaded together with leads, the pro-
file of one of which is given in the mar-
gin ; fig. 2. The other lead, fig. 1, is of
the early part of the reign of Henry VI.,
and is from Mells church, Somersetshire,
where similar lead is commonly used.
Its profile is here given in order to prove
that the mode of strengthening the
lead, without increasing its width in the
leaf, so remarkably displayed in cut 3,
fig. 3, was not confined to the Decorated
period.

Both the specimens from which the

260 ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING.

width with the painted outlines. In Early English, and
sometimes in Decorated glass paintings, lead of this width
is not unfrequently narrower than the painted outlines;
and in Perpendicular, and Cinque Cento glass paintings, it
is barely wider than them .

Experience has also abundantly proved its capability of
retaining the glass securely in its place . The perfect state
of repair of many specimens of Early English and Decorated
glazing, the lead-work of which is coeval with the glass,
sufficiently attests this fact.

There seems to be no reason why lead of the ancient
width should not again be used. That ordinarily employed
in glass paintings at the present day is a quarter of an inch
wide in the leaf. Yet this increased width, though so
trifling, is very perceptible. The reason assigned for the
increase, is the impossibility of completely excluding the
wind and rain by means of leads less than a quarter of an
inch wide in the leaf. Considering however that glass
paintings are chiefly employed in large public edifices, used
mostly on particular occasions, and for particular purposes,
I hardly think that a perfectly weather-tight window is of

cut in the margin was taken, had all
the appearance of having been cast in a
mould. It will be observed that one of
the faces of the leaf is in each lead nar-
rower than the other. This inequality
was doubtless caused by decomposition
of the metal ; the narrowest face in both
cases being outside the window, and
therefore more exposed to the action of
the atmosphere. The broadest face of
the leaf is that represented in fig. 3.

A somewhat still narrower lead than
those in the margin miy occasionally
be met with in heraldry, and other
minute Mosaic works of the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries ; and sometimes
in repairs, but a knowledge of its
weakness seems to have prevented its
more extensive use.

It is hardly necessary to observe that
the greater the number of leads em-
ployed, the weaker individually may
they be made.

ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING. 261

such paramount importance as to override all considerations
of taste. The windage of an ancient piece of glazing cannot
be perceived at a little distance, and its leakage is very
trifling. The water it may occasionally admit can easily be
conveyed outside the building, together with the moisture
condensed on the glass from within, by a simple mechanical
contrivance at the bottom of the window.

In ancient windows it will be found that the saddle-bars
are usually placed from eight to nine inches apart; and
this seems to be the most agreeable distance in most cases,
though in some, an interval between the bars not exceeding
six inches does not appear too little. The great object is
to avoid as much as possible causing the light to appear as
if it were divided into a number of square compartments
— which is so often the case in modern work, — by making
the distance between each pair of saddle-bars too nearly
equal the width of the light. It is always better to place
the saddle-bars too closely together than too far apart,
not only for the sake of the stability of the work, but be-
cause they are rendered less obtrusive by their very repe-
tition. Amongst the advantages resulting from the use of
saddle-bars at short intervals, is the opportunity it affords
the glazier of carrying a horizontal lead across the light,
immediately in front of each saddle-bar ; the opacity of
which hides the lead. The workman is thus enabled,
without deviating from the principle of cutting the glass
to the outlines of the design, to avoid the employment of
inconveniently long and weak pieces of glass, by dividing
them unseen into lengths in no case exceeding the distance
between two saddle-bars. This method of concealing lead-
work has been noticed before. It was carried to such per-
fection during the first half of the sixteenth century, that a
person ignorant of it, would find it difficult to conceive how
some of the works of that period were constructed.

262 ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING.

Before quitting the subject of saddle-bars, I should
express my opinion in favour of retaining, at all events in
pattern windows, the upright standards, or stancheons as
they are sometimes called, which in ancient windows are
usually put through the saddle-bars. The standards do
not appear to be out of place even in picture windows also,
whenever they do not happen to pass immediately behind
the head of the principal figure. They seem on the whole
to improve the effect of the architecture from without, and
certainly they do not, in the instances just put, injure the
appearance of the glass from within. To pattern windows
they are an improvement. The standards from being some-
what set back from the glass, and therefore only indistinctly
seen through it, are not open to the objection which applies
to vertical leads, which on account of their tendency to
arrest the eye, should in general be avoided as much as
possible in a glass painting.

The following notices of various glass paintings are made solely with the
view of directing attention to their mode of execution, and without any
reference to their qualities as compositions.

The Gothic glass in the five windows of the north aisle of the nave of
Cologne cathedral, some of which bears date 1508, 1509 a, when com-
pared with earlier specimens, as for instance that in the windows of Great,
and Little Malvern churches, Gloucestershire, of the last quarter of the fif-
teenth century, or that in the ante-chapel of All Souls' college, Oxford,
of the time of Henry VI., or that in the ante-chapel of New college, Oxford,
of the time of William of Wykeham, affords a satisfactory proof of the
progress already made in the art, and of the more powerful effects pro-
duced by employing stipple shadows, deeper, and coarser in grain, than
those used in the fifteenth century. But this Cologne glass exhibits
the resources of the art only in a limited degree. The general appear-

a An enumeration of the subjects re-
presented in these windows, and the
method of their arrangement, are given
in a little book entitled, "Der Dom zu

K,oln von M. J. de Noel," Cologne, 1837,
2nd ed. The glass in the tracery lights
of these windows is early Cinque Cento.

ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING. 263

ance of the paintings is too flat and hard, arising from the shadows not
being sufficiently deep. It is impossible however to overrate the granu-
lated texture of the shadows, or the manner in which the bright lights
are taken out. The glass is in excellent condition, having been cleaned
within the last few years.

The windows of Fairford church, Gloucestershire, and the remains of
the original glass in the east window of Winchester cathedral, both
works of the sixteenth century, but probably not later than 1520 b
shew a still further progress in the art. Their shadows are deep, juicy,
and effective, without exhibiting the least appearance of opacity. The
grain of the shadow is very coarse, and the enamel brown of which it is
formed is of a rich brown tint, which renders the paintings warmer and
more mellow in their tone than the Cologne glass ; the enamel brown
of which is, like the medieval, of a cold tint. Some of the shadows, not
only of the figures, but also of the architectural work, are heightened
with a warm enamel, resembling China red. The lights are invariably
left clear and transparent.

The shading used in the two last examples is, on the whole, superior
to that of the greater number of the earlier Cinque Cento specimens : in
which works the grain of the shadow is often too fine ; a defect which
produces a certain degree of dulness in the lighter shadows, and renders
the deeper ones somewhat opaque. This may be observed in the west
window of Brussels cathedral, dated 1528, a work by no means remark-
able for the goodness of its effect ; and in the windows of King's chapel,
Cambridge, painted between 1527, and 1531 c. And also in the fine
Flemish glass which now occupies the east windows of St. George's
church, Hanover square, London, a work apparently not later than
1520 *

To these may be added a window containing portraits of John Draeck,

b I have already stated my reasons
for supposing that the Fairford glass is of
the sixteenth century (ante p. 114, note
e.) A description of the subjects repre-
sented in the windows, is given in a little
work, " The History of Fairford Church,"
Cirencester, 1841.

Bishop Fox, whose arms and motto
are introduced into the east window of
Winchester cathedral, held the see from
1509 to 1528.

c Some particulars relating to these
works have already been given ante p.
177, note o ; and p. 179, note r.

d It appears from a modern inscription
in one of these windows that the glass
formerly adorned a church at Mechlin,
in Belgium. Its original arrangement

has been preserved in a drawing made of
it by Bridgens, for the marquis of Ely,
who once possessed the glass. Its sub-
ject, the Stem of Jesse, was adapted for
three long lights ; the centre one being
rather taller than the others. All the
figures, but one, are inserted in the win-
dows of St. George's, though their situa-
tions have unavoidably been changed in
some instances. The omitted figure was
a grand representation of God the Father,
which originally occupied the highest
place in the centre light. It exists, but
only in an altered state, in one of the
windows of St. Nicholas' church, Wilton,
Wilts. Mr. Nixon, the artist, fortunately
made me an excellent drawing of it
before it was injured.

264 ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING.

and his wife Barbara Colibraut, with a representation of the Last Supper
above, in the north aisle of St. Jacques church, Antwerp, which does not
seem to be later than 1530. The shadows used in this work are more
powerful than those of the ^others, and their opacity arising from the
fineness of their grain, is therefore the more remarkable.

The east window of St. Margaret's church, Westminster, which seems
coeval with the last example e, is so dirty and obscured with London
smoke, that it is impossible to see clearly the grain of the shadows. I
think, however, that they are too smooth and fine in grain.

Better specimens of execution may therefore be seen in the three east
windows of St. Peter's church, Cologne, which represent Christ bearing
the Cross, the Crucifixion, and the Descent from the Cross, (one of these
pictures is dated 1528,) as well as other paintings in the same church,
some dated 1528, 1530. In all these paintings the shadows are deep,
and transparent, the enamel ground being very coarsely stippled ; and
the lights are clear and brilliant. I hardly know of more perfect speci-
mens of glass painting than these windows.

The painting of the Annunciation, in Munich cathedral, (which has
been already mentioned p. 156,) rather wants transparency in its deeper
shadows, owing to their ground not being sufficiently coarse in its grain.

Of all glass paintings however, those in the apse of Lichfield cathedral
are perhaps the most worthy of study ; on account of the brilliancy of
their lights, the power, and general transparency of their shadows.
Some of the deeper shadows have indeed been rendered rather opaque
by being heightened with a hatching of broad patches, or smears of un-
stippled paint ; but the shadows are, with this exception, exceedingly
coarsely stippled. It is almost impossible to speak too highly of the
dexterity with which this glass has been handled. A good deal of the
shading is calculated to produce effect only when seen from a distance,
so coarse is it in its texture. If the Lichfield glass were to be carefully
washed with soap and water and cleansed from the dirt which covers
it, the transparency and brilliancy of the execution would be more ap-
parent than at present. Some of the Lichfield glass paintings are dated
1534, 1535, 1538, 1539. They are all equally fine specimens of exe-
cution f.

e Some particulars relating to this
window and the last, are given ante p.
180, note s. It has been said that the
portrait of the king in the east window
of St. Margaret's, resembles Henry VII.
rather than Henry VIII. It may be that
the window was originally intended, as
the story goes, for Henry VII., and that

his portrait was obtained for the purpose ;
but that on his death the window was
executed as it now is, as a present to
his son, but without obtaining a fresh
cartoon for the king's likeness.

1 Some further notices of the Lich-
field glass will be found ante p. 179.

ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING. 265

The painted glass in the choir of St. Jacques church, Liege, though
on the whole inferior to that at Lichfield, may also be very advan-
tageously studied. Its lights are clear and brilliant, and its shadows
powerful, and very coarsely stippled, and transparent. The Liege glass
is in beautiful order, having been lately cleaned.

The examples which I shall next cite are the four windows of the
chapel of the Miraculous Sacrament, Brussels cathedral, two of which
are dated 1546, and two others 1547. Their shadows are deep and
powerful, but in general, transparent. Their grain is very coarsely stip-
pled, and the deeper parts of the shadow are, in most instances,
strengthened with a hatching of black lines : but in some cases, I think,
with unstippled hatches of paint. The complexions of the figures are, as
is common in works of this period, heightened with a red enamel, like
China red, and the brown with which they are shaded is of a fine rich
tint e.

The next specimens are the north and south windows of the transept,
Brussels cathedral, which are both dated 1 557 ; but these, though most
effective pictures, betray in the increased opacity and heaviness of their
darker shadows, and diminution of clear lights, symptoms of the decline
of glass painting which so soon afterwards took place. These last win-
dows are doubtless inferior as glass paintings to those in the chapel of
the Miraculous Sacrament, but are very superior to most contemporary
works.

The three windows in the north aisle of Amsterdam cathedral, which
are dated 1555, are very heavy and dingy objects in comparison with
those which have been mentioned. Their subjects are the Salutation,
the Nativity of Christ, and the Death of the Virgin, with portraits of
the donors beneath. Enamel colours are used to the exclusion of
coloured glass in many parts of the pictures ; the shading, though coarsely
stippled, is too dense, and is too much heightened with smear hatching.
The lights are also not sufficiently preserved. Much exaggerated praise
has been bestowed on the painting representing the Death of the Virgin,
principally, I believe, on account of the natural appearance of the flame
of the candle which she holds in her hand. I need hardly say that the
brilliancy of this flame is materially enhanced by the dulness of the rest
of the picture.

The windows of Gouda church, Holland, form a nearly complete series

B Dr. Gessert, " Geschiehte der Glas-
malerei," p. 143, ascribes these windows to
Roger Van der Weyden, whom he sup-
poses to be identical with Roger de Brus-
sels, (ib. 142.) This Roger appears to
be the same artist as Rogiers, mentioned

by Le Vieil (" L'Art de la Peinture sur
Verre et de la Vitrerie," p. 42), as having
painted not only these windows, but also
the north window of the transept, Brussels
cathedral.

m m

266 ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING.

of glass paintings from 1555 to 1603. Two of the windows were re-
paired in 1655, 1657. As glass paintings they possess various degrees
of merit, but all sadly want brilliancy, and transparency. Some, and
these not always the latest ones, are also very defective in richness of
colour, arising from a substitution of enamel colours for coloured glass.
Their dull heavy appearance is principally owing to a want of clear
lights, and transparent shadows. A brown enamel ground dabbled on,
and possessing no decided grain, is used for the shadow in half tint, and
is generally not sufficiently removed from the lights. In some instances
the bright lights are subdued with a thin coat of enamel paint. The
darker shadows are formed sometimes of coarse stipple shading,
heightened with smear hatching ; but more commonly of smear hatch-
ing only. They are also spread too extensively over the glass.

These works are very inferior in point of execution to the Visitation,
in the south aisle of the choir of York minster, but the shadows here
have not a sufficiently decided grain, and are therefore not perfectly
transparent.

The side windows of Lincoln's Inn chapel, which are dated 1623,
1624, and 1626, are generally supposed to have been painted by the
Van Linges, but from their coarse and inartificial execution, I am in-
clined to attribute them rather to some inferior workmen employed as
painters under the Van Linges. In their general style, however, they
evidently belong to the Van Linge school. In the Lincoln's Inn win-
dows, as in the works of the Van Linges at Oxford and elsewhere,
enamel colours applied as in an oil painting, are much used in the
heads and naked parts of the figures, and in the backgrounds of the
designs. Coloured glass is very generally employed in the draperies,
and is occasionally diapered with an enamel colour of the same tint as
itself. In some of the Oxford glass, the basis of the shading is stippled ;
in general, however, in the works of the Van Linges, it possesses no
decided grain, but appears to have been suffered to dry without being
stippled at all. The darkest shadows are universally formed by smear
hatching, and smear shading. The shadows are in general opaque and
heavy, and too much extended over the glass, to the exclusion of clear
lights.

In point of colour the works of the Van Linges, chiefly on account
of the strength of the pot-metal colours employed, are often as rich
as the richest Decorated examples, the colouring of which these
artists appear to have imitated : but as glass paintings they are over-
painted, and heavy. I have remarked in the draperies of large figures be-
longing to the Decorated style, smear shadows as deep, and nearly of the
same texture as those used by the Van Linges, but these are confined to

ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OP GLASS PAINTING.

267

proper limits, and are always accompanied with bright lights, and there-
fore whilst they increase the richness, and materially promote the dis-
tinctness of the painting, the deep colours of which would overpower and
extinguish more delicate shadows, they do not destroy the brilliancy or
general transparency of the work.

The dulness and heaviness of the works of the Van Linge school, are
nowhere more conspicuous than in the side windows (all but the two
easternmost) of Magdalen college chapel, Oxford, in which there is no
coloured glass to withdraw the attention from the style of the execution.
These windows indeed rather resemble sepia drawings than glass
paintings.

The four painted windows of the chapel of the Virgin, Brussels cathe-
dral, which are dated 1649, 1650, 1658, and 1663, are much poorer in
colour than the paintings of the Van Linges, though they are nearly as
dull in appearance ; the result of substituting enamel colours in a great
degree for coloured glass, and of omitting to preserve the lights clear.

This heavy style of glass painting was exchanged for a lighter, but
weaker one both as regards colour, and general effect, in the latter
part of the last century and early part of the present. As instances I
may mention the allegorical painting in Trinity college library, Cam-
bridge, painted by Peckitt, from a design by Cipriani. The west win-
dow of New college chapel, Oxford, by Jervais, after a design by Sir
Joshua Reynolds : and the windows of Arundel castle, Sussex. Coloured
glass is sparingly introduced into the first example, the two last are
wholly coloured with enamels. All are executed by smear hatching,
exactly like oil paintings. It must be admitted that the windows at
Trinity college, and New college, possess a more pearly and silvery
tone than the preceding works ; but their want of rich colouring consti-
tutes a fatal objection to them. The windows at Arundel castle are as
deficient in brilliancy, as they are in colour, indeed these last works
have more the appearance and effect of a painted canvass window-blind,
than of painted glass.

In the modern Munich school of glass painting, coloured glass is used
to a considerable extent in the draperies of figures, &c, but the painting
is chiefly executed with various kinds of enamel colours, applied to the
glass like the paint in an oil painting. The lights are subdued with a
white enamel colour, spread over the back of the glass. Thus these
works, though their shadows are sufficiently transparent, are uninterest-
ing from their want of brilliancy.

268

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

SECTION III.

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

If the remarks in the preceding section are well founded,
it is evident that the Mosaic is the only true system of
glass painting ; and consequently, that all future works, —
restorations and repairs of Enamel and Mosaic Enamel
glass paintings excepted, — should be conducted on this
system exclusively. This being assumed, it remains to en-
quire how far the four styles into which ancient glass paint-
ing has been divided, are capable of being employed in
modern works ; and to consider whether it is not possible
and desirable to practise the art, free from the restrictions
which these styles impose. The examination of these points
will, I think, lead to the conclusion that the Early English
and Decorated styles must, for the present at least, be dis-
continued ; and that though the two more recent styles, —
the Perpendicular, and Cinque Cento, — may still be fol-
lowed with more or less success, the adoption, on all occa-
sions, of a new and independent style will be found at
once fully to satisfy the conditions, according to which any
particular style must be selected for practice, and to con-
tribute most effectually to the cultivation and advancement
of the art.

The comparative merits of the several styles, as a
question of speculation, must be left to the decision of
individual tastes and sentiments ; but, in the selection of
a style for practical application, a compliance with two
conditions appears to be necessary. These conditions are,
first, the possibility of successfully executing a modern
work in strict conformity with the proposed style; and

ON THE SELECTION OE A STYLE.

269

secondly, the appropriateness of the style to the building
for which the glass painting is designed.

An exact conformity with style demands, of course, an
exact resemblance between the imitative work and ancient
examples, not only in the conventional manner of its exe-
cution, but also in its general effect. And since the general
effect of a glass painting depends quite as much on the
quality of its materials as on the mode of working them, it
is evident that in order successfully to imitate the effect of
ancient glass paintings, recourse must be had to materials
identical in all respects with those used in them.

But the modern material is identical, or nearly so, only
with the glass of the first half of the sixteenth century, and
is essentially different in texture, and quality, to the glass
used in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and indeed until almost
the close of the fifteenth century : the dissimilarity increas-
ing according to the antiquity of the example.

The progressive changes in the manufacture of ruby glass
are, to a certain extent, actually exhibited in a diagram
given in a former part of this work h. Those in other kinds
of glass are indeed incapable of such an illustration as this ;
but I have repeatedly dwelt upon them, as affording some
of the most valuable tests of the age of a glass painting.
I am not aware that any attempt has hitherto been success-
fully made to revive the manufacture of the earlier kinds
of ruby glass. The ruby glass now used is identical, both
in the thinness of its coloured coating, and in its general
effect, only with the ruby of the sixteenth century; not
excepting even the streaky ruby which has recently been
made, as it is said, in imitation of that of the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries, but from which it entirely differs
in appearance.

A like difference may be observed between other kinds

i' See cut 1, ante, p. 22.

270

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

of ancient glass, and their modern imitations. The ancient
tints have in many instances been reproduced, but not the
texture of the more ancient material. Consequently there
is a difference of effect between the modern and the an-
cient glass. The former is more homogeneous, and there-
fore clearer, and more perfectly transparent than the latter,
especially than that belonging to the twelfth, and two fol-
lowing centuries : and I feel persuaded that it is to this
circumstance that we must refer the poor and thin appear-
ance, which almost every modern glass painting, executed
in a style much earlier than the sixteenth century, presents
in comparison with an original specimen ; notwithstanding
the utmost pains have been taken to render the imitation
of the particular style complete, by a strict adherence to its
conventionalities in regard to drawing, and execution \ It
has often been boldly asserted, that the superior richness of
the glass of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, to that
now made in imitation of it, altogether depends on the
effects produced by age, and dirt. But most assuredly this
is not correct. Glass of the thirteenth century, especially
blue French glass, may not unfrequently be met with in a
clean state, and scarcely, if at all, affected by the corroding
action of the atmosphere ; and yet this glass, whether seen
near, or at a distance, is invariably much richer than any
modern glass. Again, glass of the thirteenth and four-
teenth centuries, which has been cleaned, is always richer
than modern glass, even than that which has been pur-
posely dirtied to give it a rich tone. No cleaning is able
to deprive ancient glass of the above date, of its tone, rich-
ness, and gem-like appearance k, qualities which impart to

' I might mention amongst other in-
stances, a large Decorated design in one
of the windows of Augsburg cathedral,
which has recently heen re-executed in
modern glass.

k The gem-like appearance of early

glass is chiefly produced by the irregular
depth of its colour. This is strikingly
exemplified by the ancient ruby glass,
the black parts of which answer in effect
to the shaded parts of a real ruby, and
the light parts to the play of light seen

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

271

it such a charm, and so admirably harmonize with the
general character of the execution adopted concurrently
with its use 1 ; cleaning only increases the brilliancy of this
glass. Indeed the difference of effect between modern and
early glass, is too great to be accounted for in the manner
supposed. Glass of the latter half of the fifteenth century
is often as much, and sometimes more corroded and wea-
ther-stained than that of the thirteenth century j but none
can deny that there is a very perceptible difference in ap-
pearance between all the glass of these two periods. The
difference above alluded to between modern and ancient
glass, is, I believe, occasioned by our using purer materials
than the ancients did, in glass making; and furnaces of
greatly improved construction, which insures a more per-
fect fusion and amalgamation of the vitreous particles than
perhaps could have been effected in the older furnaces. If
this supposition be correct, I apprehend, that glass of the
same quality as that formerly used, will not be reproduced,
until there is a recurrence not only to the substances for-
merly employed in its formation, but also to the ancient
mode of fusing them together m.

in the gem. Modern glass painters often
try to produce the effect of the earliest
kinds of ruby, by leading together a
number of small pieces of modern ruby,
of different tints; instead of employing
large pieces of glass as the ancient artists
did. But this is but an imperfect expe-
dient. The leads may serve for the dark
parts of the old ruby, but there is nothing
to answer to its light parts.

1 A proof of this is afforded by one or
two of the windows of the south aisle of
Strasburg cathedral, which have been
lately cleaned. These works are of the
early part of the fourteenth century ; their
present richness, and brilliancy, are sur-
prising.

In repairing many of the earlier win-
dows of Cologne cathedral, modern glass
has been substituted for the old, whereby
their general effect is much impoverished.
Many early glass paintings entirely owe

the goodness of their effect to the texture
of the glass of which they are composed.
The experiment may easily be tried by
copying the rose represented in plate 42,
in modern white glass, embedding it in
a triangular- shaped mass of modern ruby,
about fifteen inches in length, and then
comparing it with the original example.

m Since the present work was sent to
the press, I have met with a pamphlet,
entitled, "Peinture sur Verre au xixe
siecle, par G. Bontemps, Chevalier de
la Legion d' Honneur, Directeur de la
Fabrique de Verres et Vitraux de
Choisy-le-Roi," Paris, 1845. M. Bon-
temps must possess great experience ;
I am therefore glad to find in his re-
marks a confirmation of what I have
said respecting the difference which
exists between the texture of early and
modern glass ; and of my opinion that
the peculiarity of the early material

272 ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

But however this may be, it is impossible to deny the
unfitness of glass, as at present manufactured, for the exe-
cution of many of the ancient designs. I allude in par-
ticular to those compositions which are most thoroughly
Mosaic in character, as the medallion windows of the
Early English style, and many of the coloured borders and
ornaments of that and the Decorated style. The various
colours of the works, when composed of the ancient mate-
rial, continue distinct from whatever point they may be
viewed ; yet if modern glass is substituted for it, the dif-

arises from the imperfection of the
manufacture, and cannot be obtained
by the present process.

M. Bontemps would perhaps ascribe
less of the effect of ancient glass paint-
ings to the influence of their texture,
than I have done ; but he fully admits
that a part of this effect is the result of
the texture, and he endeavours to ac-
count for it. I shall give M. Bontemps'
own words on this subject. It is as well
to premise that the drift of his argu-
ment, and indeed of the pamphlet, is to
shew that it is erroneous to suppose that
the art of glass painting is a lost art,
that the moderns have, or might have,
the same materials as the ancients, and
that nothing is wanting but an artist
capable of using them. He is, it should
be added, a decided admirer of early
Christian art, and prefers the glass
paintings of the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, to those of any subsequent
period.

In the first of the passages to which
I have alluded, after having enumerated
the few colours used in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, he goes on to add
to them the peculiar white glass of that
time.

" II ne faut pas oublier dans cette
nomenclature le verre blanc que Ton
fabriquait alors tres-verdatre a cause de
l'impurete des matieres premieres qu'on
employait, ce qui etait du reste un merite
pour son usage dans les vitraux, car un
verre trop blanc eteintles autres couleurs,
les obscurcit et fait trou dans les vitraux.
Tous ces verres sont generalement ine-
gaux d'epaisseur et de teinte, car l'art
de la verrerie n'est pas tres-perfectionne
sous le rapport du souffiage." p. 19.

"Que nous manque-t'-il materielle-
ment pour faire les vitraux des xiie et
xiiie siecles ? Nous avons des verres
rouges aussi beaux que ceux qui nous
restent de ces epoques : nous avons des
verres verts, jaunes, violets, et bleus des
tous les plus varies. Nous fabriquons
generalement ces verres plus minces que
les anciens ; mais a coup sur ce n'est pas
une difficulty de faire des verres plus
epais. Des personnes d'une autorite'
respectable pensent qu'une partie de
l'effet produit par les anciens vitraux
resulte de l'epaisseur des verres, des ir-
regularites de fabrication et des bulles
multipliees dont ces verres sont cribles :
jusqu' a un certain point ce resultat ne
peut etre revoque en doute ; les bulles
surtout empechent le passage direct des
rayons de la lumiere, et produisentun effet
analogue a celui q\ii resulte de l'altera-
tion de la surface exterieure du verre par
le temps ; toutefois il ne faudrait pas
chercher la le secret de la perfection des
vitraux des xiie et xiiie siecles, car on
trouverait bien des panneaux de ver-
rieres de cette epoque ou le verre etait
d'une fabrication assez reguliere et
presque exempt de bulles : " p. 21.

" Q,uoi qu'il en soit, s'il est bien re-
connu ne'cessaire pour produire l'effet
des anciens vitraux d'avoir des verres
irreguliers d'epaisseur et de teinte, des
verres remplis de bulles, ce sera bien
plus couteux que de fournir des verres
reguliers et purs, car la fabrication est
organisee de maniere a produire du beau
verre ; mais enfin le verrier en fabriquera ;
et ce n'est certes pas la qu'il faut cher-
cher les secrets perdus du grand art des
vitraux." p. 22.

ON THE SELECTION OF A STILE. 273

ferent colours appear to the distant spectator as if they
were confused and blended together ; the intermixture
of a number of small pieces of glass of two primitive
tints, as red, and blue, often producing at a distance the
effect of a colour compounded of both". It is indeed sur-
prising that modern glass painters continue to attempt im-
possibilities, in trying to imitate designs of this nature,
without possessing the requisite materials; and the more
so, as a very little attention to the subject will suffice to
shew, that the ancient glass paintings became generally
less broken and Mosaic in their colouring, in proportion
as successive improvements in the manufacture gradually
produced a more perfectly homogeneous and translucent
kind of glass. It is indeed hardly necessary to insist fur-
ther on a fact so obvious as that an essential difference
in the material must produce a sensible difference in the
effect of a glass painting. An instance of it may be
found in Perpendicular glass paintings of late and early
date. The similarity of execution and character which
exists between works of the early part of the fifteenth
century, and of the close of the reign of Edward IV., or
commencement of that of Henry VII., has already been
noticed : yet in their general effect, these paintings often
present a striking contrast; the earlier being commonly
colder and greener in their appearance than the later
examples, which are softer, and more silvery. This is
principally owing to the texture and quality of the white
glass, which enters so largely into the composition of a
Perpendicular glass painting ; that used in the earlier spe-
cimens, being in general of a cold strong green hue ; while

n The confusion of colours above al- in which an intermixture of red and blue

luded to, is greatly increased when an glass produces at a distance the appear-

ancient design of Mosaic character is ance of purple. It is due to the artists

copied on a reduced scale. Au instance employed in painting this window, to

of this defect is afforded by the east win- state that the design of the glass is not

dow of the new church at Camberwell ; theirs.

n n

274

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

that subsequently employed, is nearly colourless, and of a
yellow tint.

It appears then from the foregoing remarks, that the
peculiar nature of modern glass presents an obstacle to the
complete imitation of any of the ancient styles of glass
painting, except the Perpendicular of the sixteenth cen^
tury0, and the Cinque Cento. The Early English and
Decorated styles are therefore excluded from employment
in modern work, by the first of the conditions which have
been above laid down for the selection of a style.

The second of these conditions it may be remembered,
required that the style of the glass should be appropriate
to that of the building for which the painting is in-
tended. It is true that in the practice of former ages, no
such condition as this was attended to in the erection of
painted windows p \ the style of glass painting prevalent
at the time being indiscriminately employed in all works>
whether destined for the windows of buildings of contem-
porary, or earlier date. At the present day, however, the
better opinion is in favour of observing a general harmony
between the architecture and decorations of a building, so
that the whole work may, as far as possible, appear con-
sistent with itself q. With regard to glass painting con-

° I have in the course of the following
remarks, used the term, ,( Perpendicular
of the sixteenth century," as if it denoted
a style different from the " Perpendi-
cular." This has been done, however,
principally for the sake of more conve-
nient reference. All late Perpendicular
glass, including that of the last twenty
years of the fifteenth century, is as easy
of imitation now, as that of the sixteenth
century.

p My friend, the Rev. J. L. Petit, has
repeatedly called my attention to the
adaptation in medieval architecture, of
late styles to early styles, when they
come in contact in the same building ;
but I have not observed similar adapta-
tions of styles in glass paintings. In

repairs even, the style of the day was
adopted without modification. A simi-
larity in general arrangement between
early and late windows in close proxi-
mity, may be however sometimes noticed,
as for instance between Bishop Fox's
and some earlier glass in the side win-
dows of the clearstory of the choir of
Winchester cathedral.

i That is to say, provided the building
itself be Gothic. Palladian architecture
is not in fashion just now ; consequently
no impropriety appears to have been felt
by the promoters of that curious melange,
the east window of St. James's church,
Piccadilly, in selecting a nineteenth cen-
tury design, with ornamental details,
more resembling the Romanesque in cha-

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

275

sidered as a decoration, this harmony may be obtained,
either by executing the work in a style which was contem-
poraneous with the architectural style; or by modifying
the style of a different period so as to render it in some
measure accordant with the architecture j or, thirdly, by the
employment of a new style of glass painting, of a character
so comprehensive and flexible as to admit of adaptation to
the style of the architecture of any building. In Perpen-
dicular, and Cinque Cento buildings, the first of these
methods may be adopted; and even in earlier buildings
the desired harmony may literally be preserved, by imi-
tating the glass paintings of the corresponding period.
But the employment of these styles of glass painting has
already been forbidden by the first of the conditions for the
selection of style, and they can hardly be said to comply
with the spirit of the second. The imitations of these
ancient styles are necessarily so imperfect that it is im-
mediately perceived that the architecture and decoration
are not really of the same period ; and this circumstance,
joined to the disgust which is felt at a gross and clumsy
imposture, produces an effect at least as disagreeable as
that which can be occasioned by mere discordancy of
styles.

The Early English, and Decorated styles of glass paint-
ing being thus excluded, it would be necessary to confine
ourselves to the Perpendicular of the sixteenth century,
and the Cinque Cento, if we forbid glass painting to be
practised except in conformity with ancient examples. But
in this case the harmony between architecture and decora-
tion, which has been made a necessary condition in the

racter, than any thing else ; although ral character of the church, which is cer-

one would have thought that a know- tainly not " Romanesque," according to

ledge of the Cinque Cento style, might the technical signification of the word,

have led them to adopt a design wholly but is purely, and exclusively, "Palla-

in that style, as best suited to the gene- dian."

276

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

practice of the art, cannot be observed in buildings of the
earlier Gothic styles. For neither of the styles of glass
painting just mentioned, though of course admitting many
varieties in execution, is sufficiently plastic to enable the
character of individual works designed in conformity with
its rules, to be always moulded into conformity with the
character of the buildings chosen for their reception.
Indeed the rigid rules of conventionality would prevent our
further adapting the style of the glass painting to that of
the architecture, than by simply confining the Cinque Cento
style to the buildings in which the round arch prevailed,
and the Perpendicular to Gothic r. It would be impossible,
consistently with the rules of style, to impart a Norman
character to a Cinque Cento glass painting intended for a
Norman building, or an Early English, or Decorated cha-
racter to a Perpendicular glass painting designed for an
Early English, or Decorated building.

Hence it follows, that neither of the two first methods
above indicated for obtaining the desired harmony between
the style of the architecture, and that of the glass paintings
which decorate it, being capable of general application, re-
course must be had to the third, viz., to the introduction
of a new style of glass painting more comprehensive and
flexible than the late Perpendicular, and Cinque Cento.

The introduction of a new style of glass painting, suit-
able to the exigencies of the present age, may be objected
to as a startling novelty. That it is founded on the ana-
logy of ancient precedents, sufficiently appears by the fact,
that formerly each century, and almost every year, was pro-
ductive of some fresh change in the practice of this art, dic-

' I was once myself in favour of an more careful consideration of the sub-
exclusive application of the Perpen- ject has induced me to relinquish this
dicular style of glass painting to the opinion in favour of that set forth in the
windows of all Gothic buildings ; and of text,
the Cinque Cento to Palladian ; but a

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

277

tated by a desire to render it conformable with the spirit of
the age, and to keep it in a state of concurrent advance-
ment with the other arts of design.

It should also be borne in mind, that the modern imi-
tations of the two earlier styles of glass painting, do them-
selves in effect constitute collectively, a new style of glass
painting. For they bear the manifest stamp of the nine-
teenth century in the material of which they are composed,
notwithstanding their design and details belong to an earlier
period. The hands may be the hands of Esau ; but the voice
is still the undisguised voice of Jacob.

On the formation of the new style, I shall in a subse-
quent page offer a few suggestions ; but I think that they
may be advantageously preceded by some general remarks
on imitation, and on the means of raising the character of
glass painting as an art : for a consideration of these points
can hardly fail of shewing the necessity of the new style,
independently of the ground which has already been urged
for it.

The most successful of the modern imitations are those of
the later examples of ancient glass painting. Such as are
executed in the Perpendicular style, are in general far more
satisfactory, than those executed after Decorated, and Early
English models. This circumstance is easily accounted for,
by what has already been stated concerning the texture of
modern glass, and the practice of the ancient glass painters.
I am strongly inclined to think, that the greater transpa-
rency and evenness in tint of the glass of the fifteenth cen-
tury, tended amongst other causes, to the general adoption
at that time of larger pieces of glass than had been usually
employed in the Early English and Decorated glass paint-
ings, and, in particular, of a more tender and delicate mode
of execution. The ancient artists had no doubt observed that
the glass of the fifteenth century was not so well suited for

278

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

mere Mosaics, and works principally expressed by strong
outlines, as the denser and less homogeneous material of
the earlier periods. Whilst therefore I greatly object, under
present circumstances, to imitations of Early English, and
Decorated glass paintings, from a persuasion that much of
the beauty of the originals depends on the peculiar adapta-
tion of their design and execution to the texture of their
material, which is so essentially different to that of modern
glass ; I admit that very pleasing, though imperfect imita-
tions may be produced of Perpendicular glass paintings,
earlier than those of the sixteenth century j for the delicate
execution and handling, the breadth of colour, and cha-
racter of ornament used in these works, are not unsuited to
the nature of modern glass.

Without therefore expressly advocating the employment
of these imperfect imitations of Perpendicular glass, I am
far from condemning their use, if carried out in a true and
artist-like spirit : in such case they may furnish the means
of embellishing the windows of Perpendicular buildings,
earlier than the sixteenth century, in an appropriate man-
ner8. But I must enter my protest against those vile
imitations of ancient Perpendicular glass, the disfigurement
rather than the ornament of so many buildings, which whilst
exhibiting in an exaggerated degree all the defects of their
originals, possess little of their merit, and none of their in-
terest. A taste for these, amongst other gross caricatures
of ancient painted glass, sprung up in this country on the
revival of the Mosaic system of glass painting, and although
considerably modified of late, is by no means extinct \ That

» The best imitation of the kind tha
I have yet seen, is in one of the north
windows of the nave of Farningham
church, Kent. This work consisting of
two figures, with canopies over them in
the style of the latter half of the fifteenth
century, possesses the brilliancy, as well

as the silvery effect of old glass. It was
painted by Mr. Clutterbuck.

1 The general character of these
works and the usual mode of their com-
position being made up of " authorities"
raked together from all parts of this
country, and even of the continent, is thus

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

279

designs of a character so execrable as would ensure their
speedy condemnation if represented on canvass, should yet
become the theme of extravagant praise, if executed in
glass, would be unaccountable, did not experience teach
that on a change of fashion, the good and bad qualities of
the old are commonly rejected together. The defect of
the glass paintings between the close of the Cinque Cento
style, and the revival of the Mosaic system, chiefly arose
from a misapplication of art. Hence both the amateurs
and painters of this century appear to have thought that
they could not more completely rectify the error of their
predecessors, than by falling into the opposite extreme of
disregarding the claims of art altogether. But however
this may be, it is impossible to defend the practice of ex-
tolling glass paintings of very inferior merit because they
exhibit the imperfect drawing, or quaint expression, of the
middle ages, or because being purposely obscured with
dirtu, they may in some degree remind the spectator of
what is termed the "mysterious effect " of ancient glass.

ridiculed in "Punch," Nov. 29th, 1845.

" A card, worthies made up from

any number of authorities, as per speci-
men annexed, viz., an unknown saint,
which has been faithfully copied from
various originals, viz., Head from a
piece of broken window found under a
brick-kiln by the Archaeological Insti-
tute at Winchester ; missal from a tomb-
stone in Dublin cathedral; right hand
from half a bishop picked up after the
fire at York minster; left ditto from the
nineteenth figure (counting from the
right) in the oriel window of St. Peter's
at Rome ; feet from part of a broken
window (which has never been mended)
in St. Stephen's, Walbrook ; drapery from
the deal boards in Westminster abbey."
Ludicrous as this is, those who are ac-
quainted with the practices of the autho-
rity-mongers, know that it is hardly an
exaggeration.

u I do not go the length of condemn-
ing all dirtying or " antiquating " of
glass whatever, my objection is to the

abuse of the practice. A slight obscura-
tion such as that produced by age, is on
the whole beneficial, because it increases,
though it cannot of itself produce an
harmonious tone in the work. This is
particularly observable in the white pat-
tern windows of the fifteenth and six-
teenth centuries. In picture windows it
is of less consequence, because the
shadows themselves give a tone to the
glass.

I believe that nothing is more difficult
to imitate in practice than the mellowing
effect of age upon a glass painting. The
film produced on the glass by a sligh
decomposition, affecting both surfaces of
the sheet, and the adhesion of ferruginous
particles derived from the saddle-bars,
and of various kinds of minute lichens,
and mosses invisible to the naked eye ;
is, through the superior delicacy of
Nature's operations, more transparent
than any yet produced by artificial
means.

280

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

It cannot be imagined for a moment, that the medieval
glass painters ever intentionally drew ill : — the evidence is
entirely the other way ; — and it is indeed a great mistake
to suppose that any object is gained by imitating the bad
drawing of the earlier figures. Their charm consists not
in their distortion, but in the real artistic feeling, and
thorough conception of the subject, which are expressed
in them, as completely as the artist's imperfect knowledge
of drawing would admit x. And as to the " mysterious
effect" above alluded to, that is a matter rather to be
deprecated than sought for, since it is principally occa-
sioned by the injury which the ancient work has sustained
by time or accident, and is really a defect, and not a
beauty ; though imaginative persons may derive a pleasure
from contemplating the confused fragments similar to that
produced by the sight of an unfinished sketch of some
great master.

When the sacredness of some of the subjects represented
in glass paintings is considered, we surely ought to be cau-
tious not to suffer them to be degraded into caricatures.
And if such representations are useful in churches, as serving
to recall the wandering thoughts, and awaken feelings of
piety and veneration, they should be such as can be easily
understood. In short, if we wish glass paintings to be a
means of instruction, or even to be looked upon without

x The practice of imitating the imper-
fect drawing of the human figure which
so often occurs in Gothic glass paintings,
derives no support, as is sometimes sup-
posed, from the legitimate practice of
adopting in modern buildings the gro-
tesque sculpture which constitutes so
important a feature in ancient Gothic
architecture. These details, sometimes
so gross and extravagant as to call down
the censure of the Church , [see ' ' Archaeo-
logical Album," vol. i. p. 92 ; and the
extracts there given (in notis) from the
"Apology of St. Bernard, in the twelfth
century," and the decrees of the second

Nicene council, A.D. 787,] were however
designed as mere ornaments, and as orna-
ments are always most effective, and
complete. The statues which abound in
Gothic buildings are not grotesque, and
no architect would think of making them
so in a modern building. Grotesque
ornaments may and do often occur in
ancient glass paintings, but the gro-
tesqueness of the principal figures is but
the result of imperfect drawing, and not
of design. I certainly think that in
heraldic glass paintings grotesqueness is
a decided merit.

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

281

contempt, they must not be permitted to fall below the
level of the understandings of those to whom they are ad-
dressed; at a time when the gradual diffusion of know-
ledge and the engravings with which every class of books,
and even many kinds of newspapers are accompanied, in-
sensibly create a familiarity with good, or at least respect-
able models y.

The extensive employment of glass paintings suggests
the propriety of rendering these works conducive to the
advancement and encouragement of artz.

y The folly of admiring ancient art for
the sake of its bad drawing, and of imi-
tating its bad drawing, is amusingly
quizzed in the following extract from
"Punch," Oct. 4th, 1845.— -"For Par-
liament. (A Cartoon.) The decorations
of the New Houses of Parliament will be
incomplete, unless they include a repre-
sentation of Justice, who is supposed to
preside over parliamentary proceedings.
That the jib of Justice, to use a nautical
term, should have a medieval cut, is
highly necessary, for two considerations.
In the first place, Justice, cheek by jowl
as she will be with Chivalry, and other
Gothic company, will otherwise resemble
a denizen of the waters out of its element.
In the second, the Justice of Parliament,
for an obvious reason, should be de-
lineated in a style approaching cari-
cature or burlesque, which is precisely
that of the art of the middle ages. For
these good reasons, it is essential that
Justice should grasp her scales and
sword by a mode of prehension practic-
able by no mortal ; and that those pro-
perties should be cumbersome and awk-
ward-looking in the extreme. There is
a profundity in representing her as a
supernatural being, taking hold of things
in an impossible manner. On the same
deep principle she should be drawn
standing in an attitude which the human
mechanism does not admit of. There is
another good reason, which we will not
enlarge upon, why Justice should ap-
pear twisted in the British Senate.

" The tardigrade character of Justice
ought further to be made visible in her
feet, which should be quaintly clumsy,
and contorted to a degree involving lame-
ness. The anatomical difficulties which

oppose these requisites are to be veiled
with a profusion of drapery, which, as
our sagacious ancestors well knew, will
cover outrageous drawing. The face of
Justice should be that of a monumental
brass, both on account of the asthetical
character of the material, and the corpse-
like attributes proper to Gothic sanctity.
The cause of right and nature versus
humbug, which Justice is ever trying,
ought to be manifested by scrolls stuck
into her scales, inscribed of course with
old English characters. Altogether, the
person of Justice should be deformed,
and her look old-maidish; so that she
may be devoid of the Paganism of sym-
metry and beauty."

The figure of "Justice" which accom-
panies the above extract in the original,
is excellent, and really not a whit more
absurd than many grave imitations of
medieval art.

z A very unfounded prejudice exists
in the minds of some persons against the
claims of glass painting to be considered
one of the fine arts, because some of its
processes are necessarily conducted by
artisans, as burning the glass, leading it
together, and setting it up in its place,
&c. Yet the sculptor is not thought less
worthy the title of artist, because he
employs a number of assistant workmen
to hew the marble roughly into shape, to
prepare it for his own chisel, and to
erect the statue when finished.

Equally incorrect is it at the present
day, to designate an artist who paints
glass a glasier. No one thinks of apply-
ing any other term than architect to the
artist who designs beautiful buildings ;
yet in the simplicity of ancient times,
the word architect was unknown. He

O O

282

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

Glass paintings are, to a certain extent, a species of ar-
chitectural decoration ; but not more so than fresco paint-
ings, yet the greatest authorities have not considered a dis-
play of high art in a fresco incompatible with its decorative
character. I am quite sure that a glass painting is in its
way, as capable of high artistic developement as a fresco
painting; and am only anxious to see the same attention
paid to the one branch of art, as has already been paid to
the other. It should be borne in mind that a display of
high art depends, not on the nature of the materials em-
ployed, but on the mode of employing them. The glass
painter must indeed adapt his subject, and the manner of
executing it, to the means which glass painting places at
his disposal ; but the artistic character of the work is
wholly independent of these circumstances, and is secured
by the skill of the artist alone.

It requires however far greater knowledge to produce
a work of art, than is possessed by a mere draughtsman,
however rapid or expeditious he may be in his execution a.
If therefore we are anxious to cultivate glass painting as an

was but a chief of the fraternity of
masons, and was called a master mason ;
so indeed the glass painter was a chief
of the fraternity of glasiers, and was
called a master glasier ; but we are not
therefore bound to retain his ancient ap-
pellation. The master glasier appears
to have been formerly a person of equal
consideration with the master mason ;
each received the same amount of wages.

Many modern painters are indeed de-
servedly classed with glasiers : such as
those purely mechanical persons who
paint glass pictures at so much the
square foot ; and in order to undersell
their competitors, set the enormous pro-
fits arising from the sale of their pattern
windows, against the losses sustained by
the cheapness of their picture windows.

a Sir Joshua Reynolds' observation on
great rapidity of execution, is extremely
just : he says,
_ " It is undoubtedly a splendid and de-
sirable accomplishment to be able to

design instantaneously any given sub-
ject. It is an excellence that I believe
every artist would wish to possess ; but
unluckily the manner in which this dex-
terity is acquired, habituates the mind to
be content with first thoughts without
choice or selection. The judgment after
it has been long passive, by degrees loses
its power of becoming active when exer-
tion is necessary. Great works which
are to live and stand the criticism of pos-
terity, are not performed in a heat. A
proportionable time is required for de-
liberation and circumspection. I remem-
ber when I was at Rome looking at the
fighting gladiator, in company with an
eminent sculptor, and when I expressed
my admiration of the skill with which
the whole is composed, and the minute
attention of the artist to the change of
every muscle in that momentary exer-
tion of strength, he was of opinion that a
work so perfect required nearly the whole
life of man to perform." — Discourse xii.

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE. 283

art, we must encourage artists to practise it, by ceasing to
countenance those mere artisans who at present make it
their trade, and confine it to the lowest depth of degra-
dation b.

It is evident that the first step towards elevating glass
painting to the rank it once held amongst the arts, is to
estimate its productions by those sound rules of criticism,
which are alike applicable to all works of art • and not by
the sole standard of antiquarian conformity. But I fear
that this principle cannot be carried into effect whilst glass
painting is confined to mere imitations.

In estimating the merit of an imitative work two points
are really presented for consideration ; — its quality as a
work of art, and its conformity with the conventionalities
of style. But inasmuch as a knowledge of the convention-
alities of style is more commonly possessed than a know-
ledge of the principles of art, because the former is incom-
parably easier of acquirement than the latter ; amateurs,
who exert a very powerful influence on the state and con-
dition of glass painting, are apt in their criticisms, to fall
into the error of regarding a conformity with style, not as
an accessory to the glass painting, but as constituting the
sole end and essential object of the work. Hence a copy,
or mere compilation, scarcely rising in merit above a copy
of some ancient glass, or other painting, is so often pre-
ferred to a design, which attempts, however artistically, to
carry out an ancient style in spirit, rather than in conven-
tionality only : because the mere copy will naturally exhibit
a closer and more literal compliance with the petty details
of style, than the latter more intrinsically meritorious work ;
a course which cannot fail to retard materially the real
advancement of glass painting as an art, and the full de-
velopement of its powers.

b See note at the end of this section.

284

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

Being clearly of opinion that the art of glass painting
has not hitherto attained that perfection of which it is sus-
ceptible,'— for the peculiar circumstances of the sixteenth
century caused its decline before it arrived at complete
developement, — I trust I may be excused if I go counter
to the generally received opinions of the age, in advocating
as the surest means of effecting the true advancement of
the art, the total relinquishment of all copies or imitations
of ancient glass whatsoever, whether perfect or imperfect
in themselves ; and the substitution of a new and original
style of glass painting, founded on the most perfect prac-
tice of the Mosaic system, and sufficiently comprehensive to
include within itself designs of the most varied character ;
some for instance bearing a resemblance to Early English
glass paintings, some to Decorated glass paintings, and so
forth, without however ceasing to belong to the nineteenth
century, or degenerating into imitations.

It has already been shewn that a measure of this kind
would at all events be necessary, to enable the modern
glass painter to adorn the windows of a Norman, Early
English, or Decorated building, with painted glass in an
appropriate manner. It is also necessary in order to
enable him to represent without inconsistency and contra-
diction, subjects belonging to a period later than the
termination of the last of the four styles c. But I conceive
that its more extended adoption would be beneficial, by
unfettering the artist from the trammels of conventionality,
and leaving him free to pursue such a course as a deep and
philosophical consideration of the whole subject would lead
him to embrace, as best calculated to ensure a successful

c It appears from the " Fifth Report of that certain windows of the New Houses

the Commissioners of Fine Arts," that of Parliament should contain a series of

they approve of the introduction of such portraits from the Conquest, to the reign

subjects into glass paintings ; and that of William IV.
they have in particular recommended

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

285

carrying out of the art of pure glass painting from the
point at which the ancient artists left it.

I shall now attempt to define my idea of a new style
more distinctly by offering a few suggestions as to its
application.

I will first imagine the treatment of a glass painting
intended for a Norman, or Early English building.

The nature of the modern material of course precludes
any attempt at adopting as models the "medallion win-
dows " of the Early English style, which partake so highly
of the character of Mosaics ; nor do I consider the aban-
donment of these designs at all to be regretted, since,
amongst other objections, the pictures contained in them
are, owing to their minuteness, in general quite indistinct
when viewed from even a moderate distance. But other
designs are afforded by this style, capable of suggesting
many valuable hints to the modern glass painter. I allude
in particular to the large figures which often occupy the
whole, or the greater part of a single light. These are
usually composed of pieces of glass nearly if not quite as
large as those which occur in the glass paintings of the six-
teenth century ; and I am certain that an effect might be
produced in modern glass, sufficiently resembling that of
these works for all practical purposes, though of course not
identical with it. I should say that the artist might either
adopt the ancient design, and place a single figure in each
light ; or divide the window, if too large for this arrange-
ment, into as many parts as might be necessary for the re-
duction of the figures to a scale proportionable to the build-
ing ; filling it with two or more figures placed one above the
other, or with rows of figures placed under arcades : or else
occupy the whole, or some part of the window with a group
of large figures. The last arrangement, though it may be un-
supported by any ancient authority, would in skilful hands,

286

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

be unobjectionable in a glass painting avowedly of the nine-
teenth century, and which, according to my view of the case,
the artist would be bound only to render conformable to
the general character of the building. I presume that the
artist would consider it proper to impart to his figures,
whether single or in groups, that grand, severe, and clas-
sical character, borrowed from the Antique, which belongs
to the figures in the glass paintings of the Early English
style; without however imitating their rudeness, or im-
perfect drawing $ and that he would select for their execu-
tion the deepest and most powerful colours, and those
which most resemble the ancient in tint ; employing them
as far as circumstances would admit, as they are employed
in Early English figures, pink glass for instance being used
for the faces and hands, &c.

I also think that he might in painting the glass, unite
the bold and strong outlines of the Early English style,
with the stipple and transparent shading of the Perpen-
dicular ; for the use of deeply coloured glass would render
the adoption of the first almost a matter of necessity, in
order to ensure expression, and in a nineteenth century
style it would not be an objectionable innovation to impart
a greater degree of roundness to the figures than is usual
in Early English glass paintings. I am at a loss to under-
stand how the flatness of ancient Early English glass paint-
ings is to be defended. It cannot be on any fancied harmony
between the glass and the architecture, for Early English
carved work is in general remarkable for its high relief.
Indeed it is evident from the strength of the outlines, that
the glass painters of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
strove to imitate this effect in their own works. I believe we
are led to admire the flatness of Early English glass paint-
ings simply by having associated it with the beauties of Early
English architecture ; without considering that it is but the

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE. 287

result of an imperfect degree of execution. The use of
deep colouring is undoubtedly opposed to extreme contrasts
of light and shade, and therefore a modern glass painting
founded as suggested on the model of the Early English
style, must necessarily be more flat than one founded on
the model of the Perpendicular style ; still I think the
artist should endeavour to impart to the work the greatest
degree of roundness which the means at his disposal will
effect. In order however to keep up the character of the
style, I apprehend that a greater quantity of clear and
vivid lights should be left than would be the case in a
Perpendicular glass painting d. In the majority of in-
stances, a coloured or white background diapered, such as
indeed is recommended by Theophilus, and of which ex-
amples may be seen in Augsburg cathedral, and elsewhere,
would probably render the introduction of ornaments
round the figures wholly unnecessary ; but if such neces-
sity existed, I should say that the character and form of
the ornament were matters entirely for the decision of the
artist. It might perhaps be found that leaves of a simple
form, such as those of the ivy or maple, are better adapted
to the nature of modern glass than the conventional foliage
of the Early English style, and their adoption might be
preferable on another ground, the avoidance as much as
possible, of anachronisms e.

d I hardly think that any objection
can be raised against the substitution in
these works of stipple shading for smear
shading. It is not the texture of the
shadows, but their form, which may or
may not be an element of simplicity. A
stipple shadow at a distance cannot be
distinguished from a smear shadow,
except indeed by its superior trans-
parency ; a circumstance, which, of itself,
seems to afford a sufficient reason for the
general adoption of stipple shading in
all glass paintings.

e An example of a nineteenth century
window adapted to an Early English

building, is afforded by the great end
window of the south transept, West-
minster abbey, the greater part of which
has already been painted by Mr. Nixon,
the artist, who undoubtedly stands at the
head of English glass painters. Without
pretending to give any opinion on its
merits, or demerits, either as a work of
art, or as a glass painting ; I cannot help
regarding it with much satisfaction, as
the commencement of a new and artist-
like style of true glass painting, the first
introduction of which may be fairly
ascribed to Mr. Nixon, and his coadjutor,
Mr. Ward.

288

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

The whole of the foregoing remarks have teen made
with reference to pictorial glass paintings only, but they
are applicable, though in a less degree, to pattern glass
paintings also.

Some patterns in the Early English style are, for want
of the requisite material, at present utterly incapable of
imitation : but there are others, — those for instance in
which but little colour is introduced, — not liable to the
same objection ; especially if imitated in " pressed glass "
according to Mr. Powell's invention f. Patterns thus pro-
duced will be found in general more satisfactory than those
painted by hand, and it seems probable that they would
harmonize if placed in juxta-position, though not in the
same window, with the pictorial works above mentioned.
But this again is a question more properly left to the
decision of the artist.

In like manner I would suggest that a due resemblance
should be preserved between modern pictorial glass paint-
ings designed for a Decorated building, and ancient Deco-
rated glass paintings. Those subjects only should be
selected as models, which are least Mosaic in character j
and I would allow the same latitude to the artist in fol-
lowing them, as I have recommended in regard to Early
English models. He might, according to ancient autho-
rity, introduce a large single figure into each of the lower
lights of a window, or carry a general design across it in-
dependent of the mullions g. But I think he would not be

Since the above-mentioned work was
commenced, Mr. Nixon has in the east
window of Snodland church, Kent, suc-
cessfully adapted a nineteenth century
design, to a late Gothic window; this
work, considering that the new style is
yet in its infancy, is of great merit.
Another window is being completed on
the same principles, by Mr. Nixon, for
Christ Church, Bloomsbury. A few
more such glass paintings as these, will,

I think, place the success of the new
style beyond doubt. "Magna est Veritas,
et prtevalebit."

f See note at the end of this section.

s There are plenty of authorities for
this arrangement in . ancient German
Decorated glass ; and in French mul-
lioned windows of the Early English
period, the same subject sometimes
evinces a disposition to extend into more
than one lower light. Both German

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

289

bound in any case to put his figures under canopies of
architectural design, (which would lead to the adoption of
Decorated details,) but might place them on coloured
grounds, and surround them with a sort of frame-work
of foliage, a preference being given to the ivy or maple
leaf, somewhat like that which occurs in Decorated Jesse
windows. Thus a window might be entirely filled in an
appropriate manner, without resorting to the use of any
Decorated architectural ornaments whatever, in case this
should be considered objectionable. The artist, I appre-
hend, would take care to infuse the Decorated character
of drapery, and attitude, into his figures, without however
imitating either the bad drawing, or forced attitudes of the
originals ; and I should consider the employment of stipple
shading, and a greater roundness of effect than an ancient
Decorated figure displays, quite unobjectionable.

A similar difficulty to that before adverted to, might be
felt in composing pattern windows to suit Decorated build-
ings. I should be sorry to object to the use of running

and French, as well as English glass,
should he carefully studied by the glass
painter, with a view to increase his know-
ledge of the general arrangements of each
particular style. There can be no im-
propriety in borrowing an arrangement
from foreign painted glass, even if no
English example of it existed, provided
it be translated into English (if I may
be allowed the expression) by the adop-
tion of English details : for nothing
can, in general, be more objectionable
than the employment in the windows
of English buildings, of designs copied
from French and German models, the
details of which seldom harmonize with
those of our own architecture.

I should perhaps declare once for all,
that in recommending the adoption of
designs extending into more than one
light of a window, I am by no means in-
sensible to the necessity, when several
distinct subjects are intended to be intro-
duced, of accommodating them as much
as possible to the principal architectural

divisions of the windows. For instance,
though in some five-light windows it
might under the circumstances be ad-
visable to fill the three central lights
with one subject, and each of the outer
lights with different ones ; in others,
consisting (so to speak) of two pairs of
windows, divided by a central light, it
might be better to fill the centre light
with one subject, and occupy each pair
of lights on its flanks, with another
and larger design ; as for instance, in the
side windows of King's chapel, Cam-
bridge. So a transom running across a
window, might render it necessary to fill
each tier of lights with a separate sub-
ject. Again, tracery lights are some-
times so divided into groups by the prin-
cipal mullions, as to make a correspond-
ing division of the design advisable.

The thickness of the mullion in some
Early English windows would render it
impossible to extend a design into ad-
jacent lights more completely than was
done by the ancient artists themselves.

290

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

patterns on white glass, designed on the same principle as
the beautiful ancient Decorated running patterns; or to
the employment of ornamented quarry patterns ; or, in
clearstory windows, of patterns simply composed of plain
pieces of glass ; provided a good material could be found
in which to execute them. But this, as I have already
stated, must be a question for the decision of the artist.
I would not however advise the introduction into pattern
windows of belts of canopies running across them, from a
belief that some of the finest ancient Decorated windows
are those which are wholly composed of white patterns,
with or without the addition of a single shield of arms in
each of the lower lights ; and that an alternation of ab-
ruptly defined masses of white and coloured glass crossing
a window like belts, is hardly to be justified on sound
principles of taste ; or at least would not produce a
pleasing effect, unless the ancient materials were used. I
should say, though of course I only throw this out as a
suggestion, that in filling the windows either of a Deco-
rated, or of an Early English building, with appropriate
modern glass, an intermixture of pictures with white pat-
terns is unadvisable : that each window should be either
entirely a picture window, or else a pattern window : that
either kind might, in accordance with ancient authority,
be employed throughout the entire building to the exclu-
sion of the other : or if a mixture of the two should be
considered necessary, that it might be carried into effect, by
confining the picture windows to the ends of the building,
and the pattern windows to its sides y but this last would
require the building to be of such a length as fairly to admit
of curtailment : the inevitable result of employing dark
windows at its extremities with light windows at its sides.

The ancient models might be followed more closely than
has hitherto been recommended, in adapting glass paint-

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

291

ings to Perpendicular buildings. Such a general similarity
of character exists between edifices in the Perpendicular
style, that late Perpendicular glass paintings seem equally
to harmonize with them all. Indeed, as has before been
remarked, there is scarcely any other difference between
glass paintings of the early and latter parts of the fifteenth
century, than that occasioned by the tint of the glass. The
same breadth and delicacy, both in figures and decorations,
is observable in all works of this period, after the style had
become thoroughly developed. I therefore see no im-
propriety whatever in introducing glass, painted after the
models of the close of the fifteenth century, or even later,
into any Perpendicular building. The painted windows of
Pairford church, Gloucestershire, would harmonize in all
respects, except their architectural details, with buildings
of the time of William of Wykeham. The figures intro-
duced into the glass at Pairford, possess the same Germanic
character as the sculptured figures of the early part of the
fifteenth century ; which, unlike the glass paintings of that
time, they equal in merit, owing to improvements in the
art of drawing, by which at the beginning of the sixteenth
century, artists were enabled to represent on a plane surface,
the forms and inequalities actually produced in sculpture.

I am far from supposing that the drawing of the Pairford
figures might not be improved upon, but their architectural
character, especially as developed in the single figures, is
so admirably suited to the position they occupy, as to
appear worthy of imitation at the present day.

Whether or not it would be advisable to imitate the
architectural details of these canopies, or of others of earlier
date, is a question which I do not feel myself competent to
decide. I hardly think that it would be possible without
taking very great liberties with the rules of perspective, and
of light and shade,— pardonable I should say under the

292

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

particular circumstances, — to produce the effect of the
ancient canopies. Their value, however, consists not so
much in their architectural excellence, as in the opportunity
they afford the artist of introducing large masses of white
glass into the picture, and of producing strong contrasts of
light and shade. These objects might perhaps be equally
secured by placing the pictures whether consisting of single
figures or groups, in elegant bowers formed of the foliage
of the vine, the soffits or ceilings of which might be shewn
in perspective, and darkly shaded, so as to produce ap-
parent depth, by bringing forward the front of the bower,
and the figures beneath it, and throwing back the distant
landscape behind them; on the principle partly of the
Cinque Cento canopies at Brussels, and Lichfield, and of
the Gothic foliaged canopies in Munich cathedral, which
are described in a former part of this work. Canopies or
bowers of this description might from their unsubstantial
and light appearance prove perhaps better suited to glass
paintings than representations of solid stone-work.

There is perhaps no ancient Perpendicular arrangement
which could not be successfully adopted at the present day.
The figure and canopy window, or something resembling
it, might be employed in the majority of instances with the
best effect, especially in the windows at the sides of build-
ings ; but the artist should, in my opinion at least, never
scruple to use a design extending into more than one light
of a window, whenever a complicated subject would render
this arrangement necessary, in order to give sufficient size
to the figures. Designs extending over the whole of a
window are common enough in the Perpendicular style •
nor is practically any ill effect produced, as might be
anticipated, by their being cut by the mullions. Indeed it
is surprising how little in reality the mullions interfere with
the design. The eye traverses the picture without being

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

293

caught by them ; nor do I think that the appearance of the
building itself suffers by reason of the design of the glass
painting not strictly coinciding with the architectural
divisions of the window. Such pictures are, no doubt, best
suited for the extreme ends of a building, where they are
calculated to produce an agreeable variety when contrasted
with the somewhat monotonous design of the figure and
canopy windows at its sides. This circumstance, and the
distinctness of their parts, owing to their size, are, I appre-
hend, sufficient grounds of themselves to justify the use of
designs, extended over the whole or a great part of a
window.

The only improvement perhaps of which the technical
mode of execution as practised at the close of the fifteenth
century, and early part of the sixteenth, seems susceptible,
is an increase in the thickness of the outline in those works
intended to occupy distant positions. The ancient glass
painters, although they often elongated their figures to
counteract the shortening effect of perspective upon them
when placed much above the eye, do not appear at any time
to have varied the thickness of the outlines irrespectively of
the size of the figures. This was unimportant until the
introduction of the Perpendicular style of glass painting
and its delicate mode of execution, which is not calculated
to insure distinctness in the more distant figures. An
instance of this may be seen in the portraits of Edward IV.
and his family in the north window of the western transept
of Canterbury cathedral. The features of these figures are
quite lost to the eye when viewed from the steps leading to
the choir. The remedy, an increased boldness of outline,
or shadow, — for in glass painting this comes pretty nearly
to the same thing, — is suggested by some Early English
figures of about the same size as the last, which having
been removed from the clearstory of the choir, into the

294 ON THE SELECTION OE A STYLE.

south window of the western transept, have been thus
curiously enough placed at about the same distance from
the steps in question, as the Perpendicular glass in the
opposite window.

The same facility of adoption extends also to the ancient
Perpendicular patterns, and to combinations of pictures
and patterns in the same window. I hardly think that
patterns more appropriate to the modern material than the
Perpendicular could be devised, or that any great im-
provement in their form could be effected. Purely pattern
windows would probably be more satisfactorily executed by
Mr. Powell's machinery, than by hand ; but, if figures were
to be placed on white quarry grounds, I certainly think
that the ornament should be painted by hand on the
quarries. The German "round glass," from the curva-
ture of its sides, certainly harmonizes better with the flow-
ing lines of pictures placed in juxtaposition with it, than
the rigid cutting lines produced by quarries. Round
glazing therefore appears to be more appropriate than
quarry glazing, where part only of a light is occupied with
a picture. Both quarry and round glazing are thus em-
ployed in the windows of St. Peter's church, Cologne < the
relative merits of the two systems may therefore be deter-
mined by actual inspection. Round glass is a manufacture
easy of revival • it affords of itself a very valuable means of
ornament \ I shall however conclude by reiterating my
opinion that the decorative, as well as the pictorial part of
the work, are matters equally to be decided upon by the
artist.

h The round glass in the windows of ginal glass is very small. As a first
the new library at Lincoln's Inn, was attempt the modern glass must be con-
copied by Mr. Powell from some round sidered a very creditable performance,
glass of the close of the fifteenth century, and much praise is due to Mr. Hardwick
which I bought at Nuremberg, in the for his boldness in introducing a com-
autumn of 1 844. It has been imitated parative novelty from a conviction of its
with tolerable exactness, except in the beauty,
size of the bull's eye ; which in the ori-

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

295

Hardly any variations from the ancient models would be
necessary in following the latest Perpendicular, and Cinque
Cento styles : further than correcting in the latter the
generally too ornamental character of its figures, and their
draperies, and substituting for it a severer mode of treat-
ment. No ornaments perhaps could be devised, which
would harmonize better with Palladian buildings, than
those of the Cinque Cento style : and they, as well as those
of the late Perpendicular, are quite adapted to the nature
of the modern material. Care should be taken not to
imitate the too opaque execution of the later Cinque Cento
glass paintings. The finest specimens of handling are to
be found scarcely later than 1535, — certainly not later than
1540. After this the blackness of the shadows betoken
the deterioration of the art.

Round glass, or geometrical glazing with appropriate
borders, would still, as formerly, afford the means of pro-
ducing Cinque Cento pattern windows. I think that a
preference should be given to round glass on account of its
richness, the beautiful play of light it occasions, and its
pleasing silvery tone.

The above suggestions have been thrown out, simply for
the sake of rendering my recommendation of a new style of
glass painting more intelligible : it is therefore unnecessary
for me to apologize for their incompleteness, or to disclaim
any presumptuous intention of laying down rules on the
subject.

It sufficiently appears I hope, that in advocating a new
style, I by no means advise any unnecessary disregard of
the rules of the old styles. Indeed I should consider an
infringement of the rules of style, in some cases as objec-
tionable in an original modern glass painting, as in a copy
of an old one. For instance, the introduction of a coat of
arms charged with complicated bearings, or surmounted

296

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

with a helmet and mantling, into a modern glass painting,
designed for an Early English building, would seem to me
as inappropriate as its insertion would be into a copy of a
thirteenth century pattern window; not indeed upon the
narrow ground that the thirteenth century affords no pre-
cedent of the kind; but because the crowded shield, the
fluttering mantling, and its accompaniments, would be un-
suited to the simplicity of the rest of the work. Eor the
same reason it might in many cases be desirable to attend
to the minutiae of costume, of armour, &c, and even to the
selection of the Black, or Roman letter for inscriptions1.
Indeed any breach of style would be reprehensible, which
tended to impair the general harmony of the design ; the
security and maintenance of which ought to be the prin-
cipal object of all rules of style whatever.

The adoption of a new style of glass painting is a project,
which it is to be expected will encounter much opposition,
especially from all parties interested in upholding the pre-
sent corrupt system : for if carried into effect, it will inevit-
ably render not only the invention and execution, but also
the selection of designs for painted windows, matters of far
greater difficulty than at present. The mere imitator will
no longer be able to shelter his ignorance of the higher
principles and rules of art, under a scrupulous and literal
conformity with the petty details of conventionality ; nor
can he any longer be upheld with impunity by his patrons,
the soi-disant connoiseurs, who sneer at real works of art
from sheer incapacity to appreciate their merit, and flip-
pantly bring forward their own miserable conceits as un-
questionable authorities. Both the artist, and the critic, in
order that their opinions may be generally respected, must

1 I mean the common Black, or com- can read. For a like reason I should
mon Roman letter,— for I see no use in say that an inscription in English, is
inscriptions, which none but the initiated preferable to one in Latin, or French.

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

297

learn to estimate a pictorial glass painting, not by its con-
ventional character, but in proportion as it exhibits those
essential qualities which will entitle it to be considered a
work of art, as well as a perfect glass painting.

A degree of knowledge will therefore be required of both
these parties far beyond that obtained by a little industry
in tracing ancient painted glass. They must acquire a
thorough acquaintance with the deep principles of each
style of ancient glass painting, and of the defects and ex-
cellencies of the ancient glass painters : to which must be
added a competent knowledge of art, derived from an acute,
refined, and unprejudiced observation, not only of the works
of the middle ages, but of the great masters of the six-
teenth century, and of the invaluable relics of classical
antiquity.

There will, we may be sure, be no lack of excellent glass
painters in this country, so soon as artists find it their
interest to direct their talents and skill to this hitherto
neglected art. Every branch of the fine arts is so over-
crowded with practitioners, that many artists, if properly
encouraged, would be glad to adopt glass painting, and
would rejoice at the new field of enterprise thus opened
out to them.

The chief difficulty is, in what way to evince to the
artistic world, a sincere desire for good glass paintings.

The only mode seems to be, by throwing open all im-
portant works to public competition ; and appointing artists
of known reputation, and who have themselves devoted
some attention to glass painting, as judges, both of the
rival designs, and of the specimens of glass painting sub-
mitted to them.

Public competitions in oil painting, architecture, or
sculpture, are in general to be deprecated ; because artists
of established fame will not condescend to enter the lists.

Q q

298

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

But it is a different matter, when either a branch of the
fine arts is newly taken up, or an effort made to establish
it on a new footing. In this case a public competition
affords perhaps the surest means of enabling those most
worthy of patronage to become known. The experiment
has been, successfully I believe, tried with regard to fresco
painting ; and I trust it may ere long be tried with regard
to glass painting.

I have already intimated my dislike to modern glass
paintings exhibiting the exaggerations and deformities,
which are so common in ancient glass paintings. I should
further caution the glass painter who seeks to attain real
eminence in his profession, against being betrayed into the
imitation of models, which though free from absolute bad
drawing, are defective in character and expression. Such
models are afforded in abundance by the modern German
school of painting, and by its English imitators. The
German school, some artists of deserved reputation being
excepted, has committed the fundamental error of neglect-
ing the study of nature, and taking for its models the
masters of an age when art was still imperfectly de-
veloped. It is therefore less likely to advance art, than
to cause it to recede from the high point which it had
attained in the sixteenth century ; and it does not appear
that its most successful followers can be ranked higher
than able and ingenious cultivators of a vicious style.
Amongst the most striking defects in the productions of
this school, and of its imitators, are an insipidity of ex-
pression, and a want of individuality in the figures. In
some works the distinction of sex is scarcely distinguish-
able except by the size and dress, and can rarely be
guessed at from the features, or the form of the figure.
Martyrs are apparently devoid of sensation, and angels
are reduced to mere automata; our Saviour Himself is

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE. 299

not unfrequently represented like a spectre. This seeming
apathy is doubtless intended to denote in the first case,
a sublime and perfect resignation to the Divine will; in
the second, the exercise of an irresistible power, which re-
quires no effort in the person who displays it; in the
last, the profound and awful majesty of a Divine Being :
but in their treatment of these subjects the German
artists, and their English disciples more especially, seem
obnoxious to the criticism, that although they most suc-
cessfully denude holy personages of all earthly expression,
they fail to clothe them with a spiritual one \

Notwithstanding its defects however, the modern German
school appears to meet with many admirers, because it is
supposed to be deeply imbued with the spirit of what is
termed " Catholic art." But this alone is no recommenda-
tion of its artistical character ; many of the rudest medieval
figures being admitted to possess a " Catholic feeling " as
deep as that which pervades the productions of the modern
German school. The merits attributed to Catholic art, are
an earnestness and depth in the expression of religious feel-
ing, which (according to its advocates) the great masters
of the sixteenth century, and their followers, the cultivators
of "Pagan art1,'' are incapable of attaining, or at least
never have attained, and in comparison with which grace,
and correctness of design, ought to be regarded as " beg-
garly elements."

This view of Catholic art seems to be chiefly, if not en-
tirely, founded on narrow and exclusive religious grounds m ;

k See " Quarterly Review," No. 154, many antique statues, (see Reynolds,

p. 330. Discourse viii.), applies with greater

1 The phrase "Pagan art," is here force to the works of those moderns who

used to indicate the art of representation regard with distaste the remains of hea-

as refined and improved in the sixteenth then antiquity, and the subsequent im-

century by the study of classical models. provementsin art.

It is rather amusing that the same m It is sometimes carried so far as to

charge of " inanimate insipidity " which regard Protestantism as incompatible

has been brought and with truth against with religious art, a prejudice which is

300

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

and subjects art rather to the uncertain standard of devo-
tional susceptibility, than to any definite principles of taste
and criticism. Indeed it might be supposed from much of
the language employed on the subject, that there was a
necessary repugnancy between the expression of Christian
sentiment, and the employment of technical skill ; an in-
ference which though to a certain extent contradicted by
the Count de Montalembert in his remarks on the works
of Overbeckn, is supported by the same author's condemna-
tion of Anthony Pollajuolo, for introducing into painting
the element of anatomical study, and of Raphael, and
Michael Angelo, for pursuing it in their works0. An

somewhat inconsistent with the fact that
the great model of German Catholic art,
Albert Diirer, produced his noblest work,
"The Four Apostles," after his adoption
of the Protestant faith. See Kugler,
" Handbook of Painting," part ii. p. 149,
edited by Head.

I should add that by " Catholic art "
is meant exclusively and distinctively
" Roman Catholic art." This is pointedly
and clearly put by the Count de Monta-
lembert in his letter to the late Cambridge
Camden Society, quoted in Weale's
" Quarterly Papers," part vi. p. 36. In
another work entitled " Du Vandalisme
et du Catholicisme dans l'Art," Paris,
1839, by Count Montalembert, it will be
found that " Christian" and "Catholic"
are used as synonymous terms.

n " tous ceux qui ont vu et

compris des tableaux ou des dessins
d'Overbeck, ne pourront s'empecher de
reconnaitre qu'il n'y a la aucunement
copie des anciens maitres, mais bien une
originality puissante et libre, qui a su
mettre au service de l'idee catholique
tous les perfectionnemens modernes du
dessin et de la perspective ignores des
anciens. L'ame la mieux disposee a la
poesie mystique n'en est pas moins com-
pletement satisfaite, comme devant le
chef-d'-ceuvre le plus suave des anciens
jours, et l'intelligence la plus reveche est
forcee de convenir qu'il y a meme de notre
temps la possibility de renouer le fil des
traditions saintes, et de fonder une ecole
vraiment religieuse, sans remonter le
cours des ages et sans cesser d'etre de

ce siecle." — " Du Vandalisme et du
Catholicisme dans l'Art," p. 178. These
remarks are satisfactory inasmuch as
they prohibit the artist who adopts the
barbarisms of Gothic art, from pleading
the necessity of adhering to " Catholic
examples," and defending the badness of
his drawing by the sacredness of his
subject.

° "Antoine Pollajuolo, qui eut la
triste gloire d'introduire dans la pein-
ture l'element des etudes anatomiques,
et qui s'en servit le premier pour pro-
faner ce noble sujetdu martyre de Saint
Sebastien, quil' a ete tant de foisdepuis."
— " II preparait ainsi les voies a Michel-
Ange, qui ne trouva rien de mieux qui de
presenter les saints et meme les saintes
dans un etat de nudite complete, dans ce
fameux Jugement dernier." — " Du Van-
dalisme et du Catholicisme dans l'Art,"
p. 93.

" Aussi a, la fin du xv siecle, apres la
mort du Beato et de Benozzo, la supre-
matie de Part chretien est d6volue a
l'ecole ombrienne dans la personne de
Perugin, de Pinturicchio, et de Raphael
avant sa chute, glorieuse trinity qui
n'a jamais ete et ne sera jamais sur-
passes." — lb., p. 104.

" Nous admettrions volontiers avec
M. Rio qu'il (Raphael) a porte 1'art
chretien a son plus haut degre de per-
fection, si nous n'etions attristes et
revoltes, meme en presence ce ses chefs-
d'-ceuvre les plus purs, par la pensee de
sa deplorable defection." " Le rapproche-
ment entre la Dispute du Saint Sacrement

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

301

objection to the study of nature seems to come with a
singular bad grace from so ardent and enthusiastic an
admirer of ancient Christian art as the Count de Monta-
lembert, when we consider what close and servile copyists
of nature the medieval artists really endeavoured to become.

It is sufficient to refer to the Chinese-like exactness? with
which in the paintings of the early masters, jewellery, and
the texture of the stuffs composing the draperies, are imi-
tated, the latter in many instances even to the very stitches :
to the scrupulous delineations of each single hair of the eye-
lashes and eyebrows, &c. the stiff map-like delineation of the
meagre bodies and attenuated limbs of saints, and ideal
personages, &c.

Hence we may conclude that it was from mere ignorance
of the true method of representation, that the medieval artists
failed of arriving at that truthful simplicity with which
nature was more faithfully rendered in the periods of more
advanced art. They laboured like children to attain a minute
imitation of unimportant detail because they knew no better q.
Had the early artists possessed the same degree of skill and
knowledge as the painters of the sixteenth century, they
would likewise have imparted to their delineations of the

et le poeme du Dante, est naturel et juste :
cette fresque est en effet un veritable
poeme en peinture. Pourquoi faut-il qu'
aussitot apres 1' avoir terminee, Raphael
ait cede aux suggestions du serpent ?
Comme dit notre auteur [M. Rio] 'le
contraste est si frappant entre le style de
ses premiers ouvrages et celui qu'il
adopta dans les dix derniers ann£es de
sa vie, qu'il est impossible de regarder
l'un comme une evaluation ou un de-
veloppement de l'autre. Evidemment il
y a eu solution de continuity, abjuration
d'une foi antique en matiere d'art, pour
embrasser une foi nouvelle.' Cette foi
nouvelle n'est autre qui la foi au
paganisme et au materialisme, qui a eu
pour revelation les fresques de l'histoire
de Psyche, et la Transfiguration." — lb.,
pp. 112, 114.

p The parallel between Chinese art
and middle age art is much closer than
would at first be supposed. Many a por-
trait of a Chinese lady might be trans-
formed into a highly Catholic saint, by
simply substituting a book for the fan,
and slightly altering the form of the or-
naments on the rohe. The face with its
long eyelids and scarcely marked eye-
brows and conventional expression, — the
careful exactness with which the orna-
ments on the drapery, and the little
flowers and sprigs at the feet of the figure
are drawn, all have their counterparts in
the European paintings of the fifteenth
century. The extent to which an artist
may avail himself of such imperfect
models, is well defined in Reynolds'
sixth Discourse.

i See Barry's sixth lecture.

302

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

human figure, that perfection of beauty which affords the
best proof of the soundness of the judgment exercised by the
artist of a more cultivated mind, in selecting, through his
accurate knowledge of nature, the most perfect forms as
worthy of imitation r : and like them have expressed the
truest Christian emotions, with that fulness and complete-
ness of meaning, which cause some at least of the religious
works of the great masters so powerfully to excite the sym-
pathy of the spectator.

It has been often observed that the later paintings of
Raphael are inferior in depth of religious feeling, or holiness
of expression, to his earlier works, in which he has more
closely followed the established types. Admitting this to
be true, it affords no reason for preferring an imperfect, to a
more perfect method of representation ; which must, of course,
be capable of more perfectly expressing a sentiment, whether
devout, or otherwise, really felt by the artist. In the re-
ligious works of Leonardo da Vinci, for instance, both ex-
cellencies are combined.

It seems therefore absurd to suppose that scriptural sub-
jects cannot be adequately represented without retrograding
to an imperfect style of art. Such a notion can I think
only be attributed to the fashionable, and therefore exclusive
and in discriminating admiration of middle-age art, and cus-
toms. Such admiration will most probably, like other fash-
ions, soon pass away. The best established opinions, are,
it is true, liable to be reversed by the progress of enquiry,
and knowledge, but it is not probable that standards of ex-
cellence, like the works of the great masters, which have
been recognised during three centuries, will either be sub-
verted, or long neglected. Judgments which have been ex-
amined and confirmed by successive generations, and in

r The distinction between servilely Reynolds' discourses, especially in the
copying Nature, and adopting her as a third, fourth, and fifth Discourses,
guide, is repeatedly pointed out in

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

303

various countries, must be supposed to rest on deep-seated
principles ; and hence the artist who desires to please long,
and generally, and to obtain a permanent reputation, will
do better to adhere to these, than to be guided by opinions
which may fairly be attributed to partial views, or to the fa-
vour with which startling novelties are apt for a time to be
entertained.

I cannot conclude the present work without some en-
deavour to promote the preservation of such specimens of
ancient painted glass as we still possess. The value of these
remains to the student and artist sufficiently appears when
it is recollected that they constitute the sole evidence of the
state and progress of the English school of glass painting.
We cannot repair the injuries which have reduced the ori-
ginal specimens of the art to such scanty numbers, and ren-
dered them, in the majority of instances, little better than a
mere collection of fragments : but we may testify our regret
at what has been lost, — a loss that so. materially retards and
embarrasses our investigations, — and our appreciation of
what remains, by attempting as far as possible to arrest the
further progress of destruction.

The ordinary effect of time in decomposing the surface of
the glass, is a cause of decay which we cannot, and indeed
should not, attempt to counteract, — for the remedy would
in all probability prove worse than the disease. But glass
paintings are subject to other and more serious injuries,
which a little care and judgment may prevent. From
wilful and wanton destruction, it is true there is little to be
apprehended. The iconoclastic mania has happily passed
away ; the most zealous reformer sees in an ancient picture
only a specimen of ancient art, though its subject abstract-
edly considered may be one to which he entertains the most
profound antipathy ; and as for the mischievous attacks of
the childish and ignorant, they may be effectually resisted

304

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

by an external wire guard. The great danger to which a
glass painting is exposed, arises not from these sources, hut
either from neglect, or, from well-intentioned, but mistaken
zeal for its preservation and restoration.

It is difficult to say which of these evils is the more to be
deprecated. There can be no doubt that innumerable glass
paintings have already perished or become mutilated through
the neglect to keep their leadwork and saddle-bars in repair,
or to defend them against injuries from without by a wire
guard ; and that many others are at present in jeopardy for
want of similar precautions : but I am sorry to add that an
almost equal amount of damage has accrued to these works,
in many cases, either through restorations conducted on false
principles, or their unnecessary removal from their original
situations into other windows.

Painted glass loses so much of its interest and value in
every respect, when torn from its original position, that
this measure should never be resorted to unless for the pur-
pose of better preservation. It may sometimes be advisable
to collect into one window all the little fragments of
painted glass scattered about a building, with the view of
protecting them there with a wire guard ; but the removal
of ancient painted glass from one window into another
merely for the sake of improving the general appearance of
the building, appears to me wholly unjustifiable.

The injury thus committed is however trifling in com-
parison with that arising from such "restorations" as are
founded on the desire of converting a ragged looking and
mutilated glass painting into a sightly ornament. The
restoration (as it is termed) of an ancient glass painting to
its pristine beauty, would in the majority of cases be more
truly designated the premeditated destruction of an original
work. It is generally incompatible with that conscientious
preservation and retention in its original place of every por-

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

305

tion of ancient glass, which ought to be the essential and
paramount object of all real restorations. By far the greater
number of ancient glass paintings are valuable, rather as
specimens of the art at particular periods, than on account
of their intrinsic merit. In this point of view, every frag-
ment possesses a degree of interest quite independent of its
size, its effect, or the subject it represents, and therefore,
though apparently insignificant, should by no means be
cast aside, nor should a modern copy, however accurately
executed, be suffered to usurp its place. With such restora-
tions as scrupulously preserve the original glass, and admit
of no more modern painted glass than is requisite to supply
the deficient parts of a design, clearly indicated by the por-
tion of it which remains, little or no fault can be found.
But when they are carried beyond this point, and modern
glass is inserted, not on the direct authority of the dilap-
idated work itself, but merely according to the analogy
afforded by other ancient specimens, they are open to
serious objections. They diminish or altogether destroy
the value of the work as a specimen of ancient art, and not
only mislead the unpractised student, who is incapable of
discriminating between ancient and modern glass, but, if
engravings or written descriptions of the window are given,
may impose on the most experienced antiquary, who has
not an opportunity of examining the glass personally. In
such restorations also great inconsistencies occur. As a
general rule therefore, it is prudent, and for the sake of
corrupting as little as possible the sources of antiquarian
knowledge, very desirable to abstain altogether from re-
storing the deficient parts of a glass painting, except where
the original work affords a model and guide according to
which such deficiencies can be supplied.

Attention to the state of the lead and iron work of
painted windows, is one of the simplest and least objection-

r r

306 ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

able modes of ensuring their preservation. The iron-work
may generally be expected to be found in good condition, but
many glass paintings still retain their original lead-work,
which through age is in a very decayed state, as is indeed
manifested by the work bagging, or bulging out in places.
In many windows, the glazing panels, though their lead-
work is in sound condition, are very insecurely attached to
the saddle-bars, and may be observed in consequence to
rock backwards and forwards with the wind, causing the
glass to rattle violently, and loosening it in the lead-work.

The destruction of an entire glazing panel is the almost
inevitable result of its breaking loose from the saddle-bars ;
while defective lead-work not only occasions the glass
to be blown in and lost piecemeal, but is often apt to
induce theft : persons not possessing high principles of
honesty being too often tempted to appropriate that which
seems to be neglected and abandoned by its owners.

Simple as it appears to be, there is no operation perhaps
which requires greater care and patience than the releading
of an ancient painted window : and not every workman is
competent to undertake the task. Not only should the
relative positions of the pieces of glass be accurately pre-
served, but the course of the original leads should be ad-
hered to, even where the painted glass has dropped from
them, and been lost, since this may often afford a clue to
the original design. Narrow leads should always be used
in repairs, and it would be well perhaps if in all cases of
releading, the old original lead-work was deposited in a
place of safety, as besides being a curiosity of itself, its form
might serve to correct any mistake that might have arisen
in the releading.

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

307

NOTES.

M. Bontemps, in the pamphlet to which I have already referred,
ante p. 271, note (m), agrees with me in the opinion that the effect
of a thirteenth century glass painting has not yet been attained in
any modern work ; and in condemning the practice of seeking to pro-
duce this effect by dirtying • and obscuring the glass. He speaks with
marked contempt of the process of making up windows, by means of
copies from various ancient examples ; and of servilely imitating the de-
fective drawing of the old masters. Finally he agrees with me in think-
ing that glass painting should be executed in accordance with the im-
proved taste, and intelligence of the present age ; and in the opinion,
that in order to succeed, glass painting must be studied and cultivated
by artists : this last point indeed he regards as the one thing needful for
the perfect restoration of the art.

M. Bontemps' remarks on imitation, and the following of ancient
models, are so pertinent that I cannot refrain from transcribing them.

" Un artiste, d'une valeur incontestable, a pense qu'il pouvait faire du
vitrail sans avoir etudie les anciens chefs-d'oeuvre, sans connaitre leur
ornementation ; il a eu la pretention, louable peut-etre, de ne chercher
l'inspiration qu'en lui : cela pouvait etre admis dans les edifices d'un
style oii les vitraux n'avaient pas d'antecedents ; mais dans une eglise
gothique ce systeme ne pouvait qu'echouer ; l'artiste a voulu d'ailleurs
produire d' l'harmonie par des contrastes heurtes de couleurs brillantes
et de teintes obscures, par des enlevages de lumiere, et son vitrail, au
lieu d'attirer, repousse et fatigue l'ceil qui va chercher a se reposer sur
d'anciens vitraux.

" II en est d'autres qui ont cru qu'en copiant le dessin de la bordure
d'un ancien vitrail et la mosaique d'un autre pour entourer des medallions
a, sujets d'un dessin raide et grimacant, on admirerait ces faeheux
pastiches a l'egal des anciens vitraux ; ils ont voulu eriger en principe
ce qui n'etait chez eux qu'impuissance de mieux faire ; le peuple et les
hommes de gout les ont renies et ont dit : ce ne sont pas la les anciennes
verrieres de nos peres.

" D'autres, mettant aussi a, contribution la riche ornamentation des
anciens, ont pense que leurs medaillons devaient etre d'un dessin correct;
nous ne dirons pas qu'ils aient reussi, leur dessin manquait de fermete,
Taction n'etait pas suffisamment indiquee ; mais ils ont agi dans une
bonne direction, car, nous le repetons, ou peut faire de beaux vitraux sans

308

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

que les sujets soient choquants et un objet de ridicule pour le peuple ;
c'est pour tous que les vitraux sont faits ; quand ils deplairont aux
classes les plus nombreuses, le but ne sera pas atteint ; les vrais archeo-
logues ne seront pas non plus satisfaits car ils comprennent que les
vitraux, au xix e siecle, doivent sans doute etre faits pour la comprehen-
sion et l'edification des fideles, et non pour la satisfaction particuliere de
quelques personnes qui ne veulent reconnaitre le passe que quand on leur
enrappelle lesdefauts, et qui d'ailleurs n'entrent dans 1' eglise que corame
curieux." — pp. 40, 41.

I have not yet had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the
recent works on glass painting by the Messrs. Ballantine of Edinburgh,
and by Mr. Warrington the glass painter. Their existence was unknown
to me until long after I had completed the present essay.

The statutes imposing heavy duties on glass, (now repealed,) hindered
improvements in the manufacture of glass for pictorial purposes. I
believe however, that we are indebted to one of them,— the 7th and 8th
Vict., c. 25, § 10, — for the invention of "pressed glass," mentioned in
the text, ante p. 288. This Act prohibited altogether the making of any
flint glass into sheets six inches in length, and four in breadth, and up-
wards ; and thus compelled Mr. Powell, who had attained great emi-
nence in the making of coloured flint glass, to turn his attention to
stamping small pieces of it, in imitation of painted glass. This inven-
tion is still quite in its infancy, and susceptible of material improvement,
and of very extended application as a means of ornament. Its mechanical
nature has its value, not so much in the cheapness of the production,
as on account of its tendency to create a well-defined line of demarca-
tion between mere decorative works and the higher branches of glass
painting.

The superiority of the pressed, or stamped glass, for patterns, over
that painted by hand, consists in the roughness of its surface, — occa-
sioned by the contact of the sheet with the mould, — which imparts to
the glass, when seen at a little distance, a richness, and brilliancy of
effect more closely resembling that of old glass, than what in general
has been hitherto produced by any other modern expedient. Some glass,
such as the ornamented quarries of the fifteenth century, — whose charm
consists in their silvery appearance, — can I think, only be properly imi-
tated in pressed glass. And for a long time I thought Mr. Powell would
have had no rival in his imitations of the earlier white patterns. Such a

ON THE SELECTION OF A STYLE.

309

rival however appeared, shortly after these sheets were sent to the press,
in Mr. W. Miller, of 32, Brewer-Street, Golden-Square, who has painted
the wheel window, at the east end of Barfreston church, Kent, in exact
imitation of Early English glass. It is true that this work principally
consists of a white scroll pattern on a cross-hatched ground; but the
material used has all the apparent substantiality, richness, and brilliancy
of ancient glass, without any of the inherent defects of pressed glass ; the
pattern here, having been drawn by hand, being as sharp and clear as
in an original example. This window is, on the whole, the most perfect
imitation of Early English glass that I have ever seen, and reflects the
greatest credit on its author, who has encountered, and overcome, no
ordinary difficulties, which the numerous failures in imitating early glass
by hand painting, abundantly testify.

APPENDIX (A).

A TRANSLATION OF THE SECOND BOOK OF THE " DlVERSARUM ART1UM
SCHEDULA, THEOPHILI, PflESBYTERI ET MoNACHI a," WITH NOTES.

CHAPTER I.

ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF A FURNACE FOR WORKING GLASS.

If it please you to make glass, first cut up much beech wood
and dry it well. Then burn it equally in a clean spot, and dili-
gently collecting the ashes, be careful not to mix any dust or
stones with them.

8 This translation of Theophilus has
been made from the edition published at
Paris in 1843 by le Comte Charles de
l'Escalopier with a French translation,
and with an introduction by I. Marie
Guichard. The entire treatise consists
of three books. The first treats of paint-
ing, the second of the manufacture of
glass, and the third of the working of
metals, particularly with reference to
the fabrication of sacred utensils. It
was brought into notice by Lessing about
seventy years ago. Having discovered
a MS. of it in the Ducal library of Wol-
fenbiittel, of which he was librarian,
he printed some extracts from the first
book in an essay which it induced him
to write on the antiquity of oil painting ;
the treatise of Theophilus affording consi-
derable evidence that the invention of this
practice is not due to John Van Eyck.
In 1781 Raspe in his critical essay on
oil painting printed the whole of the
second book from a MS. in the library of
Trinity college, Cambridge. In the same
year the entire treatise was published
with an introduction by Leiste1. The
text of this edition had been prepared by
Lessing from the Wolfenbuttel MS.,
collated, as it seems, with another in the
Pauline library at Leipsig, and was

printed in his lifetime, though he did
not live to publish it. From this edition
the second book, in that of 1843, is
printed. Dr. Gessert in speaking of
Lessing's edition, observes that it must
be used with caution, as it occasionally
destroys the sense of the original8. He
does not expressly say that he has com-
pared it with the MS., and in the second
book, the only one with which we are
concerned, or to which perhaps his re-
marks are intended to apply, the obscu-
rities are so few, that it is not probable
that serious inaccuracies can exist in it.
Perhaps therefore he merely alludes to
errors of the press, of which undoubtedly
there were several ; most of these are cor-
rected in the French edition.

In Lessing's edition an index of the
chapters is printed. This index enume-
rates (between the eleventh and sixteenth
chapters of the Paris edition and of the
present translation) four chapters, which
are wanting in the MS. and have the fol-
lowing titles : —

Cap. XII. de coloribus qui fiunt ex
cupro et plumbo et sale 3.

Cap. XIII. de viridi vitro.

Cap. XIV. de vitro saphireo.

Cap. XV. de vitro quod vocatur
Gallien4.

1 In the " Beytrage zur Geschichte und Litteratur aus den Schatzen der herzoglichen Bibliothek
zu Wolfenbuttel Braunschweig," 1781, a work previously conducted by Lessing. It is printed
in the " Sechster Beytrag."

2 Den originaltext sinnstorend entstellt. " Geschichte der GHasmalerei," p. 29, note.

3 Vide post note.

4 Vide post note (h).

312

APPENDIX (a).

Afterwards form a furnace
of stones and clay, fifteen feet

In the Leipsig MS. the deficiency is
thus noticed in a hand-writing more re-
cent than that of the MS. Hie deficit
subtilior pars et melior et utilior totius
libri pro qua, si quidam haberent, daient
mille fiorenos5. It is remarkable that
in a MS. which was in the Nani library
at Venice, and is described by Morelli6,
these chapters are again deficient, though
enumerated in the index. The MS. de-
scribed by Morelli is of the seventeenth
century, copied from one in the Imperial
library at Vienna. Morelli was informed
that there were two MSS. in this library,
one of them of the twelfth century and
imperfect, from which that which he
describes was probably taken, the other
of the seventeenth century. When this
note was written it seemed but too pro-
bable that the four chapters were totally
lost; the recent announcement of a new
edition of Theophilus from a ' complete '
MS. justifies ahope that this is not the case,
and that they will soon be made public.

After the publication of Lessing's
essay in 1774, those passages of Theo-
philus, which seem to prove the early
practice of oil painting, attracted much
notice, but the other parts of the treatise
do not seem to have been equally at-
tended to. Dr. Gessler however has
recently given several extracts from the
second book, in his "History of Glass
Painting."

Of Theophilus himself nothing what-
ever is known except that he was a priest
and monk, " humilis presbyter, servus
servorum Dei, indignus nomine et pro-
fessione monachi," as he qualifies him-
self in the introduction to the first book.
His country and, what it would be far
more important to ascertain, the age in
which he lived are alike uncertain. With
regard to the former it has been disputed
whether he was a German or an Italian.
M. Guichard thinks that he was a
German : Lessing is also of this opinion,
and conjectures that he may have been
the same with Tutilo, a monk of St. Gall
who lived in the tenth century, and who
besides other accomplishments was " ce-
lator elegans et picturae artifex." This

Postmodum compone furnum
ex lapidibus et argilla, longi-

conjecture, which has no stronger support
than a supposed identity of the names
Tutilo and Theophilus — an identity of
which Lessing himself seems subse-
quently to have become less confident —
is evidently entitled to very little weight
in determining the age of Theophilus.
Morelli places him in the twelfth century,
but without any sufficient reason. The
general opinion however is that he wrote
in the tenth or eleventh century. From
this opinion M. Guichard dissents. He
thinks that the treatise was written in
the twelfth or thirteenth century. This
belief he founds on the accordance of the
character and declared objects of the
work with the features by which he
conceives those ages to be distinguished
in the history of art, its revival namely,
its exclusive application to ecclesiastical
purposes, and the increased taste for
splendour in every thing connected with
divine worship. Whatever weight there
might otherwise be in this species of in-
ternal evidence, the date of the Wolfen-
biittel manuscript is a decisive authority
in favour of those who place Theophilus
in the earlier period. This manuscript
is said by both Lessing and Leiste to be
of the tenth or eleventh century, and in
the absence of any better founded doubts
than those which are cast on their testi-
mony by M. Guichard, we are not justi-
fied in rejecting it.

It is of course essential to M.Guichard's
opinion that the antiquity of the Wolfen-
biittel MS. should be disproved, and for
this purpose he makes the following ob-
jections to the authority of Lessing and
Leiste. "En 1774 le manuscrit de
Wolfenbiittel etait selon Lessing du xie
siecle ; en 1781 Leiste le faisait remonter

jusqu'au xe Lessing et Leiste ne

designent pas les particularites a l'aide
desquelles ils ont fixe l'age du manu-
scrit : il faut que ces particularites aient
ete tres-legerement observers puisque
pour celui-ci elles indiquent le xie siecle,
et pour celui-la le xe; enfin Leiste a
laisse" echapper une phrase qui infirme
tout a la fois et sa propre opinion et celle
de Lessing. Voici cette phrase, qu'on

6 Lessing, " Vom Alter der Oelmalerey," Sitmmt. Werke 8. p. 361, Berlin, 1792. Dr. Gessler
says in a hand probably of the seventeenth century.
6 Codices MS. Latini Bib. Nanianae Venet., 1776.

APPENDIX (a).

313

in length, and ten in breadth,
in this manner.

nous permettra de citer textuellement
' Beyde (les manuscrits de Leipsick et de
Wolfenbiittel) sind in gross Quart auf
Pergament geschrieben und gleichen sich
sehr in den Schriftziigen, so dass man
sie wahrscheinlich in ein Jahrhundert
versetzen muss ' or, comme Lessing et
Leiste datent le manuscrit de Leipsick
du xiiie ou du xive siecle, il resulte de
tout ceci une singularite impossible, c'est
a dire, un livre (le manuscrit de Wolfen-
biittel) ecrit au xe siecle avec l'ecriture
du xive." A reference to Lessing and
Leiste will shew that these remarks are
perfectly unfounded. Not only is there
no discrepancy between them with regard
to the date of the Wolfenbiittel MS., for
Leiste speaks of it as of the tenth or
eleventh century, and Lessing in treating
of its age expressly says that it has all
the marks which the most rigid connois-
seur of MSS. of the tenth or the eleventh
century can ever require7, but, what is
very important, Leiste, in the passage
which is cited as destructive of the value
of his and Lessing' s opinion, is not speak-
ing at all of the Leipsig MS., but is
comparing the Wolfenbiittel MS. with
one of Vitruvius in the same library.
This is evident from the sentences which
immediately precede and follow the above
cited passage. They are literally as
follows, and contain the first reference
which Leiste makes to the Leipsig MS.
"Feller adds that a manuscript of it (the
treatise of Theophilus) exists in the
Pauline library at Leipsig, and it is pro-
bably the same author who (in the
' Acta Erud. Mens.' Aug. 1690, p. 420)
indicates its contents somewhat more
exactly though imperfectly. Thus much
however may be known from this notice,
that this is the same work which is found
in the library here (viz. Wolfenbiittel)
among the Gudian MSS. after the Vitru-
vius. Both are written in large quarto
upon parchment, and resemble each other
very much in the writing, so that they
must probably be placed in the same
century. Both MSS. indisputably belong

tudine pedum xv et latitudine
x, in hunc modum.

to the rarest articles in the library here."
Nothing can be clearer than this, and it
perfectly accords with Lessing' s account
of the MS., who says that it is among the
MSS.ofMarquardusGudius,and does not
form a separate volume, but is bound up
with the MS. of Vitruvius.

This notice of Theophilus and his work
ought not to terminate without giving the
concluding sentences of the introduction
to the first book. Besides tending to shew
the spirit in which the work was com-
posed, they are remarkable for the enu-
meration of the arts for which various
countries were then most celebrated, and
for the testimony which they bear to the
early excellence of France, in that art
with which we are at present most con-
cerned. In fact it is most probable
that France (or rather Normandy) though
it cannot claim the merit of having in-
vented the art of glass painting, was the
first country in which it was cultivated
with success.

The passage I have just alluded to is
as follows. " Wherefore, my dearest son,
whom God has herein so highly blessed
that those things are offered to you with-
out price, which many acquire with in-
tolerable labour, crossing the ocean at
the extreme peril of their lives, suffering
the hardships of hunger and cold, en-
during a long slavery to the learned, and
wearing themselves out with the desire of
knowledge, long for this treatise with
eager eyes, study it with a tenacious
memory, embrace it with ardent affection,
and if you diligently examine it you will
find in it all the knowledge that Greece
possesses in the kinds and mixtures of
colours; Tuscany in inlaid- works, and
the various kinds of niello; Arabia
in malleable, fusible, or chased works ;
Italy in the various kinds of vases, and
the carving, enriched with gold and
silver, of gems and ivory ; France in the
precious variety of windows ; and the
skilful Germany in the delicate work-
manship of gold, silver, copper, iron,
wood, and stones8; and when you have

7 Vom Alter der Oelmalerey.

8 " Quidquid in diversorum colorum generibus et mixturis habet Grecia, quidquid in electrorum
operositate seu nigelli varietate novit Tuscia, quidquid ductili vel fusili vel interrasili opere distin-
guit Arabia, quidquid in vasorum diversitate seu gemmarum ossiumve sculptura auro et argento
inclyta decorat Italia, quidquid in fenestrarum pretiosa varietate diligit Francia, quidquid in auri,
argenti cupri et ferri lignorum lapidumque subtilitate sollers laudat Germania." — Instead of
Tuscia — Russia, Busscia, Rusca, and Rutigia occur in the different MSS.

S S

314

APPENDIX (a).

First lay foundations on both
sides of the length, one foot
thick, making a firm and level
hearth of stones and clay in
the midst, dividing it into
three equal parts, so that two
thirds be together, and one
third by itself, divided by a
wall placed breadth-wise.

Then make a hole in both
fronts of the breadth, through
which wood and fire may be
put in ; and building a wall all
round, to the height of nearly
four feet, make again a firm
and level hearth throughout
and let the dividing wall rise a
very little [above it.] After
which, make in the larger
chamber four holes in one side
of its length, and four in the
other side through the middle
of the hearth, in which the
working pots may be placed,
and two holes in the middle,
through which the flame may
ascend; and building up the
wall all round, make two
square windows, one hand in
length and breadth, one in
each of the two sides which
are opposite to the holes,

repeatedly read all these things, and
have committed them to your tenacious
memory, recompense me for my instruc-
tion, by praying to God, as often as you
make a good use of my labours, for His
mercy towards me. He knows that it is
neither from the love of man's applause,
nor the desire of earthly reward that I
have written what is herein contained,

Primum pone fundamenta
in utroque longitudinis latere,
spissitudine pedis unius, faciens
larem in medio firmum et sequa-
lem lapidibus et argilla, dividens
eum inter tres partes sequales
ita ut duse partes sint per se,
et tertia per se, divisa muro in
latitudine posito.

Deinde fac foramen in
utraque fronte latitudinis per
quod possint ligna et ignis
imponi, et sedificans murum
in circuitu usque ad latitu-
dinemb pene quatuor pedum,
fac iterum larem firmum et
aequalem per omnia, et sine
murum divisionis aliquantulum
ascendere. Post quse fac in
majori spatio quatuor foramina
in uno latere longitudinis et
quatuor in altero per medium
laris, in quibus ponantur vasa
operis duoque foramina in
medio per quse flamma possit
ascendere, et sedificans murum
in circuitu, fac duas fenestras
quadras, longitudine et latitu-
dine unius palmi, in utroque
latere contra foramina unam,
per quas vasa imponantur et
ejiciantur cum his, quse in illis

and that I have kept back nothing valu-
able out of jealousy or envy, but that for
the increase of the honour and glory of
His name, I have endeavoured to supply
the wants, and have consulted the advan-
tage of many."

b I have translated this word as if it
were a misprint for " altitudinem."

APPENDIX (a).

315

through which windows the
pots may be put in and with-
drawn with whatever is put
into them. Make also in the
smaller chamber a hole through
the middle of the hearth, close
by the middle wall, and a win-
dow of the size of a hands-
breadth near the outer wall of
the front, through which what
is needed for the work may be
put in and taken out. After
you have thus ordered these
matters, make the inner part
with the outer wall into the
likeness of an arched vault,
internally barely more than
the height of half a foot, so as
to make a hearth at top level
all over, with a ledge placed
round it three fingers in
height, so that whatever is put
upon it belonging to the work
or utensils may not fall.

This furnace is called the
working furnace d.

c I have translated this word as if it
were a misprint for " fornicis."

d I have endeavoured in vain to form
a satisfactory idea of a working furnace
from the above description, the obscurity
of which is so contrary to the usual style
of Theophilus, who generally writes like
an eye-witness, and not as a mere com-
piler, that I am inclined to suspect some
alteration or corruption of the text in this
place. I have therefore contented myself
with giving above a literal translation of
the original Latin, which is printed in a
parallel column for the satisfaction of
those who may consider further investi-
gation desirable. No reference is made to
the working furnace except in the fourth
and last chapters of the second book of
the treatise, and these throw but little
additional light on the subject.

mittuntur. Fac etiam in minori
spatio foramen per medium
laris juxta parietem medium,
et fenestram ad mensuram
palmi juxta parietem frontis
exteriorem, per quam possit
imponi et assumi quod neces-
sarium est operi. Postquam
haec ita ordinaveris, fac partem
interiorem cum muro exteriori
in similitudinem fornacis e ar-
cuarii interius altitudine modice
amplius pedis dimidii, ita ut
superius larem facias sequalem
per omnia, cum labro altitudine
trium digitorum in circuitu
posito, ut quicquid operis vel
utensiliorum superponitur non
possit cadere.

Iste furnus dicitur clibanus
operis.

The furnace described by Eraclius,
"de coloribus et artibus Romanorum,"
a MS. of the thirteenth century, [printed
at the end of Raspe's " Essay on Oil
Painting,"] consisted of three compart-
ments [arcse] of unequal size. In the
centre, which was the largest compart-
ment, the glass was made in two small
pots [mortariola] placed, as it would
appear, on the floor of the furnace, on
which also the fire was kindled. The
glass was put into and taken out of the
pots, through an aperture left for that
purpose in each of the outer walls of the
compartment. One of the other compart-
ments was used for making the frit ; and
the other for baking the pots before they
were put into the working furnace.

The process of making glass is at the
present day conducted on the same prin-

316

APPENDIX (a).

CHAPTER II.

OP THE ANNEALING FURNACE.

Make also another furnace, ten feet long, eight wide, and
four high. Make in one front an opening for putting in wood
and fire ; and in one side a window of the size of one foot, for
putting in and taking out what may be necessary ; and within
a firm and even hearth. This furnace is called the annealing
furnace, [clibanus refrigerii] .

CHAPTER III.

OF THE FURNACE FOR SPREADING J AND THE IMPLEMENTS
FOR THE WORK.

Make yet a third furnace six feet long, four wide, and three
high, and an opening, a window, and a hearth as above [men-

ciple as in the times of Theophilus and
Eraclius, but in differently constructed
furnaces, and on a far more extended
scale. The most improved form of a
modern working furnace, is a circle of
about sixteen feet in diameter, covered
by a dome, the crown of which is raised
about five feet from the floor of the fur-
nace on which the pots stand. Ten pots,
each capable of containing from eighteen
cwt. to a ton of glass, are placed round
the inside of the furnace, close to the
wall, through which are holes commu-
nicating with the pots. In the middle of
the floor of the furnace is a large grating,
which supports the fire, and admits a
current of air to pass through its bars.
Draft holes opening into flues, are made
through the sides of the furnace near the
pots, by which the heat and flames are
brought to act more intensely on the
pots and their contents, and through
which the smoke &c. is carried off. In
general all these flues open into a huge
conical chimney, built above the furnace
to the height of eighty or ninety feet;

the chief use of which is, to prevent an-
noyance to the neighbourhood from the
smoke. See a more detailed account
of a modern working furnace in Dr.
Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia, "Porce-
lain and Glass Manufacture," p. 155
et seq.

In the Encyclopad. Brit., sixth ed.,
art. " Glass," a furnace is described nine
feet in diameter, the chief peculiarity of
which is, that the fire is made in a
vaulted chamber, and ascends through
holes in the roof into a vaulted chamber
above, in which the pots for the glass are
placed. The flame and smoke escape
through a hole in the vault of the upper
chamber. This kind of working furnace,
which appears to bear some similarity to
that mentioned above by Theophilus, is
I believe now disused. It is almost iden-
tical with one originally described in
Agricola, " de re metallica," a work of
the first half of the sixteenth century.
See Holbach, " Art de la Verrerie," 4to.
Paris, 1752.

APPENDIX (a).

317

tioned] . This furnace is called the furnace for spreading and
flattening, [clibanus dilatandi et sequandi].

The implements necessary for this work are, an iron tube
two ells long, and of the thickness of an inch ; two pair of tongs
of wrought iron at one end ; two iron ladles ; and such other
wooden and iron tools as you please.

CHAPTER IV.

OF THE MIXTURE OF ASHES AND SAND.

These things being thus arranged, take logs of beech wood
thoroughly dried in smoke, and light a large fire in each part of
the larger furnace [in majori furno ex utraque parte]. Then
taking two parts of the ashes of which we have spoken above,
and a third of sand, carefully purified from earth and stones,
which sand you shall have taken out of water, mix them to-
gether in a clean place. And when they have been for a long
time and well mixed together, taking them up with an iron
trowel, put them in the smaller part of the furnace, upon the
upper hearth [in minori parte furni, super larem superiorem],
that they may be roasted [ut coquantur] : and when they have
begun to grow hot, immediately stir them, lest they chance to
melt by the heat of the fire, and run into balls. Do this for the
space of a day . and a night e.

e Contrary to the direction contained
in this chapter the frit is now formed
into a mass; and such was the more
ancient practice, as appears from Pliny's
account of the manufacture of glass —
" Continuis fornacibus, ut aes, liquatur
massaeque fiunt colore pingui nigricantes
.... Ex massis rursus funditur in offi-
cinis tinguiturque. Et aliud flatu figu-
ratur, aliud torno teritur, aliud argenti
modo caelatur." And subsequently —

" Arena alba qua? molissima est,

pila molaque teritur. Dein miscetur tri-
bus partibus nitri pondere vel mensura,

ac liquata in alias fornaces transfunditur.
Ibi fit massa, quae vocatur ammonitrum 1 :
atque haec recoquitur et fit vitrum
purum, ac massa vitri candidi." — Lib.
xxxvi. ch. 66. It might be inferred from
Eraclius that the same practice obtained
in his time, but on this point his autho-
rity is of no value. This part of his
treatise is copied almost verbatim from
Isidore of Seville, and the account of
glass in Isidore is again taken with very
slight variations from Pliny. — Isid. Ety-
molog., lib. xvi. ch. 16.

1 Ammonitrum ab Afifios arena, et v'trpov nitrum. Hodie opifices Fritta nuncupant teste
Caesalpino. — Note to Delphin Ed.

318

APPENDIX (a).

CHAPTER V.

OF THE WORKING POTS, AND THE MODE OF FUSING [ET DE
COQUANDO] WHITE GLASS.

Take white clay of which earthen pots are made, dry it, and
pound it carefully, and having poured water upon it, macerate
it strongly with a piece of wood, and make your pots. Let
these be wide at the upper part, and narrow at the lower ; and
have round the mouth, a small lip bent inwards. When they
are dry, take them up with the tongs, and put them into the
openings of the heated furnace adapted for this purpose [in
foramina furni candentis ad hoc aptata]. Take up with the
ladle the. mixed roasted ashes and sand, and fill all the pots in
the evening; adding dry wood during the whole night, in order
that the glass produced by the fusion of the ashes and sand may
be completely fluxed [ut vitrum ex cineribus et sabulo lique-
factum, pleniter coquatur] f.

CHAPTER VI.

HOW TABLES OF GLASS [viTREJE TABVLm] ARE MADE.

In the morning at the first hour, take an iron tube, and if
you wish to make tables of glass, put the extremity of it into a
pot filled with glass: when the glass adheres to it, turn the tube
in your hand until there is conglomerated round it as mucli as
you want. Then draw it out, put it to your mouth and blow
gently. Presently remove it from your mouth, and hold it near
your cheek, lest in drawing in your breath you should draw
flame into your mouth. You should have a flat stone before

f The pots generally used at the pre-
sent day are not open but covered at top,
having only a small orifice on one side
through which the glass is put in and
taken out. By this means the contents

of the pots are completely defended from
the dust and dirt of the furnace. A repre-
sentation of a pot is given in Dr. Lard-
ner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia, "Porcelain
and Glass Manufacture," p. 159.

APPENDIX (a).

319

tlie window [of the furnace], on which you will gently beat the
hot glass, that it may hang equally on every side : and im-
mediately and with speed blow frequently, and as often remove
[the tube] from your mouth. When you perceive that the
glass hangs like a long bladder, hold its extremity to the flame,
and the end immediately becoming melted a hole will be visible
in it. Take a piece of wood formed for this purpose, and make
the hole as large as [the bladder of glass] is in the middle, then
join its lips together, viz., the upper part to the lower, so that
on either side of the juncture an opening may be visible. Im-
mediately touch the glass near the tube with a piece of moist
wood, shake it a little, and it will separate [from the tube].
Then heat the tube in the flame of the furnace, until the glass
which adheres to it melts, and quickly put it to the two lips of
the glass which have been joined, and it will adhere to them.
Immediately lift it, and put it in the flame of the furnace until
the hole from which you first separated the tube melts. Take a
round piece of wood, and widen this hole as you did the other.
And wrapping the edges of the glass together in the middle
separate the glass from the tube with a piece of moist wood,
and give it to an attendant, who having inserted a piece of
wood into the opening [inducto ligno per foramen ejus] will
carry it to the annealing furnace, which should be moderately
heated.

This kind of glass is pure and white. Work off like portions
of glass in the same manner, and in the same course, until you
have emptied the pots g.

s The word " table " is applied at the
present day to any flat sheet of glass. It
occurs in this sense in many of the sta-
tutes which imposed duties on glass, as
for instance, the 2nd and 3rd William IV.
c. 102. § 15 ; and the 3rd and 4th Victoria,
c. 22. § 3.

The process mentioned in this and the
ninth chapter is very like the modern
method of making glass into cylinders
and opening and flattening it out into
sheets, which has been already briefly
described in a note to the Introduction.

The only part of Theophilus' descrip-
tion which could not easily be reduced to
practice, is that which relates to pinching

the lips of the cylinder together in the
centre of the mouth, in order as it would
appear to ensure a firmer adhesion of the
cylinder to the blow-pipe, by bringing
both its edges in contact with the hot
glass at the end of the rod. If one could
without doing violence to the words trans-
late the following passages, — " Con-
junge oram ipsius, superiorem videlicet
partem ad inferiorem, ita ut ex utraque
parte conjunctionis foramen appareat," —
and again, " et coinplicans oram ejus in

medio " as if the lips of the cylinder

were merely approximated, without being
actually brought in contact with each
other, the difficulty would be obviated ;

320

APPENDIX (a).

CHAPTER VII.

OP YELLOW GLASS.

But if you see [the glass in] any pot change to a yellow-
colour, let it continue in fusion [sine illud coqui] until the
third hour, and you will have a light yellow. Work off as much
of this as you want, in the course above mentioned. If you
like, let it continue in fusion [permitte coqui] till the sixth
hour, and you will have a reddish yellow. Make also from this
as much as you please.

CHAPTER VIII.

OF PURPLE GLASS [DE PURPUREO VITRO] .

If indeed you observe that [the glass in] any pot happens to
change to a tan colour [in fulvum colorem] which is like flesh,
keep this glass for flesh colour ; and taking as much of it as you
want, fuse [coque] the residue for two hours, viz., from the first
to the third hour, and you will have a light purple, [pur-
puream levem] . And again fuse it [coque] from the third to
the sixth hour, and it will be a red and perfect purple [purpurea
rufa et perfecta] h.

but in the opinion of practical men it
would be almost impossible to separate
the edges of the glass, after they had
once been allowed to adhere together,
without serious injury to the sheet of
glass.

The flat stone, " lapidem aequalem,"
mentioned by Theophilus upon which the
lump of glass at the end of the blow-pipe
was moulded to proper shape before it
was blown, appears to have been super-
seded by a plate of iron, as early as the
time of Eraclius. The name he gives it,
"marmor ferri," clearly indicates the
material originally used for the purpose,
of which the modern word " marver" is
evidently a corruption.

11 The following receipts for colouring
glass are taken from the treatise of Era-
clius before referred to.

If you wish that the glass may be red
make it thus from ashes which have not
been well roasted, 'lake filings of copper,
burn them till they become powder, and
throw them into the little pot (morta-
riolum), and there will be produced the
red glass which we call galienum.

Green glass you will make thus. Put
into the little pot as much of the same
powder as you think fit, and stir it, and
it will be green.

Yellow (croceum) glass is thus made.
Take raw ashes (cinerem crudum) and
fuse them, and throw in a little sand with

APPENDIX (a).

321

CHAPTER IX.

OF SPREADING OUT TABLES OF GLASS.

When you have worked off as much as you can of these
colours, and the glass has been annealed in the furnace [in

them, and if I mistake not, a little powder
of copper, and stir them together, and the
yellow glass is produced which we call
cerasin.

Purple and flesh colour (membrana-
ceum) are made from the ashes of the
beech tree, which are roasted as the white
ashes, and thrown into the pot, and fused
by boiling (bulliendo) till (the glass) is
turned to a purple colour. When you see
it turn to a purple colour take as much
as you want, and make the work which
you desire, till you see it turn to paleness.
From this pale colour it turns to another,
which is called membrun.

In this last receipt Eraclius agrees
with Theophilus in representing the
purple and flesh colours as being ob-
tained without the addition of any co-
louring matter. For procuring red,
green, and yellow, it will be observed
that he directs the same colouring in-
gredient to be employed.

The analysis of some ancient Roman
coloured glass, given in Lardner's Cyclo-
pasdia, shews that this is not so absurd as
it may at first appear. The same ingre-
dients (oxide of copper being one) were
obtained from a piece of red and a piece
of green glass " It is remarkable," ob-
serves the author, " that the constituent
ingredients of both these specimens
should prove to be the same. The dif-
ference between them exists only in their

relative proportions ; and the colours
depend upon the different degrees of the
oxidation of the copper. Suboxide of
copper, that is, copper which has com-
bined with only half the quantity of
oxygen required for the production of
the perfect oxide, produces a red ena-
mel ; while that which has received its
full proportion of oxygen yields a green
enamel colour." — " Treatise on Porcelain
and Glass," p. 270.

According to the analyses which have
been made of ancient coloured glass, the
colouring material in red glass was cop-
per, and more rarely iron 1 ; in blue, iron
or cobalt; in yellow, charcoal; and in
green, copper; though some have as-
serted that all the gradations of red, blue,
and yellow, were obtained from iron2. . .
This assertion as far as middle age glass
is concerned, is contradicted by the
receipts just given. It seems that the
analyses of ancient glass have not been
made in sufficient number or very zeal-
ously, and this perhaps is the reason that
no satisfactory result has been obtained.
But even if an analysis should succeed
in detecting the ingredients which have
been employed, these are not of them-
selves sufficient to account for the colours
of the glass. A great deal, especially in
variations of tint, depends on the tempe-
rature at which fusion takes place, the
length of time during which it is con-

1 M. Bontemps, in the pamphlet to which I have before referred, "Peinture sur Verre au xix
siecle," p. 23, note, relates that during the French Revolution, when it was proposed to melt all
the ruby glass in the churches, for the sake of obtaining the gold which it was supposed to con-
tain; the chemist who was charged to ascertain by experiment the probable quantity of gold
derivable from this source, on analysing some ruby glass, found that the principal colouring matter
was composed only of a weak proportion of copper, and iron. Thus the intended destruction of
the glass was arrested. This fact M. Bontemps gives on the authority of M. d'Arcet.

I should add that to M. Bontemps belongs the honour of having, in 1826, revived the ancient
manufacture of ruby glass. He notices in the above-mentioned pamphlet, the streakiness of the
colouring matter of the earlier kinds of ancient ruby; and ridicules le VieiPs notion that it was
caused by applying the colour with a brush. M. Bontemps ascribes it to a defect in the manu-
facture, adding however, that it would be far more difficult to reproduce this streaky ruby, than to
make ruby glass of an even tint.

a Gessert, " Geschichte der Glasmalerei," p. 56. He adds that yellow had often been produced
merely by stirring the melted glass continually with a wooden pole.

T t

322

APPENDIX (a).

furno refrigeratum] , set out your whole work, and light a large
fire in the furnace in which it is to be spread out and flattened.
When this is heated, take a hot iron, and having split [findens]
one side of the glass [cylinder], lay it [the cylinder] on the
hearth of the heated furnace, and when it begins to soften, take
the iron tongs and a smooth piece of wood, and opening it in
that part in which it is split, spread it out, and flatten it at
pleasure with the tongs. When it is quite flat, take it out and
so place it in the annealing furnace, which has been moderately
heated, that the table [of glass] do not lie down, but may stand
against the wall of the furnace. Place next to it another table
flattened in the same manner, then a third, and so all the rest.
When they are cold, use them in the composition of windows,
dividing [findendo] them in pieces as you wish.

CHAPTER X.

HOW GLASS VESSELS ARE MADE.

When you are going to make glass vessels, make glass in the
order above mentioned, and when you have blown it to the size

tinued, and the thickness and quality of
the glass. From the receipts of Theo-
philus and Eraclius it is evident how
much the old artists relied on the effects
produced by the longer or shorter dura-
tion of the fusion. Not so much prac-
tical benefit therefore is to be expected
from the employment of chemical science
in the analysis of old glass, as from its
application to the production of colours
which may rival the old ones.

Modern blue glass is always coloured
with oxide of cobalt.

The preparation of cobalt is conjec-
tured by Beckman (Hist, of Inventions,
vol. ii. p. 353.) to have been invented at
the end of the fifteenth century, and its
application to colouring glass to have
taken place about 1540 or 1560, though
he admits that the use of cobalt might
have been known to the ancients, and
the knowledge of it afterwards lost. The
analysis of ancient glass mentioned by
him produced iron. Dr. Gessert how-
ever mentions that ancient blue glass

from Thebes, from Pompeii, and the
baths of Titus, has yeilded ferrugineous
(eissenschiissig) oxide of cobalt. This
would be the same as zaffre, which is
also termed impure oxide of cobalt, and
contains both iron and arsenic, and is
the cobalt of commerce.

The fine deep blue on the little porce-
lain figures found with Egyptian mum-
mies appears from the application of
various chemical tests to have been pro-
duced by oxide of cobalt (Lardner's
Treatise, p. 8), and possibly the imitative
glass gems, mentioned by Theophilus,
chap, xii, were also coloured with cobalt.
The strong colouring power of this mate-
rial, one grain giving a full blue to 240
grains of glass3, may have caused its pre-
sence in the latter to escape detection by
the ancient chemists. The word zaffre is
perhaps merely a corruption of sapphire,
and may have originated in the use to
which the above-mentioned glass gems
called sapphires were applied.

3 AiMn's Diet, of Chemistry and Mineralogy, Art. " Cobalt.'1

APPENDIX (a).

323

you wish, do not make a hole in the bottom as above directed,
but separate it entire from the tube, with a stick dipped in
water, and immediately, having heated the tube, make it adhere
to the bottom. Raise the vessel, heat it in the flame, and with
a round piece of wood enlarge the opening from which you have
separated the tube. Form and widen its mouth at pleasure,
and enlarge the bottom of the vessel round the tube, that it
may be hollow at its lower extremity. If you wish to make
handles to it, by which it may be suspended, take a thin iron,
plunge it up to the end in a pot of glass, and when a little
adheres to it, take it out, and put it on the vessel in whatever
place you please, and when it adheres, heat it in order that it
may stick firmly. Make thus as many handles as you please,
holding the vessel in the meantime near the flame so that it
may be hot, without however being melted. Take also a little
glass from the furnace, so as that it may draw a thread after it,
and laying it upon the vessel where you wish, wind it round
it, [holding it] near the flame so that it may adhere. This
done you will remove the tube according to custom and put
the vessel into the annealing furnace. In this manner you can
work off as much as you want.

CHAPTER XI.

OF BOTTLES WITH LONG NECKS.

If you wish to make bottles with long necks, thus do. When
you have blown the hot glass in form of a large bladder, stop
the hole of the tube with your thumb in order that the wind
may not escape, swing the tube with the glass that is appended
to it beyond your head, as if you intended to throw it, and the
neck having being stretched out in length by this action, raise
your hand high, and let the tube with the vessel hang downwards
in order to straighten the neck. Then separate it with a wet
stick, and put it into the annealing furnace.

324

APPENDIX (a).

CHAPTER XII.

OF THE DIFFERENT COLOURS OF GLASS.

There are found in the ancient buildings of the pagans, in
mosaic work, different kinds of glass ; viz., white, black, green,
yellow, sapphire [saphireum], red, purple, and the glass is not
transparent, but dense like marble. They are as it were small
square stones, from which are made works inlaid (electra) in
gold, silver, and copper ; concerning which we shall speak suffi-
ciently in their place. There are also found various little vessels
of the same colours, which the French, who are very skilful in
this manufacture, collect : they fuse the sapphire [saphireum] in
their furnaces, adding to it a little [modicum] clear and white
glass, and they make tables of sapphire, which are precious, and
useful enough in windows, [tabulas saphiri pretiosas ac satis
utiles in fenestris] . They make tables of purple and green in
like manner'.

CHAPTER XIII.

OF GLASS DRINKING BOWLS, WHICH THE GREEKS DECORATE WITH
GOLD AND SILVER.

The Greeks indeed make of the same sapphire stones [ex
eisdem saphireis lapidibus] precious bowls for drinking out of,
decorating them with gold after this manner. They take gold
leaf, of which we have spoken abovek, and form out of it figures

' The manufacture of these imitation
glass gems is mentioned in the following
passage in Pliny, — " Fit et tincturae ge-
nere obsidianum ad escaria vasa, et to-
tum rubens vitrum,atquenon translucens,
haematinon appellatum. Fit et album, et
muvrhinum, aut hyacinthos, sapphiros-
que imitatum, et omnibu6 aliis coloribus."
— Lib. xxxvi. c. 67. See further as to
these colours, ante, note to chap. viii.

The signification of the word " elec-

trum" is adopted from the French trans-
lation. The word occurs in other parts
of the treatise, and Theophilus appears
to have used it to signify the stones, or
enamels, which are found in the reli-
quaries, crosses, &c, of the middle ages.
In one place he seems to mean amber.
The French translator justifies his inter-
pretation by a note, which is too long to
insert here.

k In the first book of the treatise.

APPENDIX (a).

325

of men or birds, beasts or leaves, and lay them with water on
the cup in whatever place they please. This gold leaf ought to
be rather thick. Then they take very clear glass like crystal,
which they themselves make, and which melts as soon as it feels
the heat of the fire. They pound it carefully with water on a
porphyry stone, and lay it with a brush very thinly all over the
gold leaf. When it is dry they put it into the furnace in which
the painted glass for windows is burned, — of which we shall
speak hereafter1, — putting under it [supponentes] fire and logs
of beech wood, thoroughly dried in smoke. When they perceive
that the fire so far penetrates the bowl that it acquires a moder-
ate degree of redness, they immediately take out the wood, and
stop up the furnace till it cools of itself, and the gold will never
separate.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE SAME BY ANOTHER METHOD.

They do it also in another way. Taking gold, ground in a
mill, such as is used in books"1, they mix it with water, — they
do the same with silver, — and make with it circles, and within
these, figures, or beasts, or birds, in varied workmanship, coating
them with the very transparent glass of which we have spoken
above.

They then take white glass, and red, and green, which is
used in inlaid works [electra], and pound each by itself on a
porphyry stone carefully with water, and paint with it little
flowers, and knots, and other minute objects as they please in
varied workmanship between the circles and knots, and a border
round the lip of the vessel. This painting is laid on of a moder-
ate thickness, and is burnt in the furnace in the way above
mentioned.

They make also bowls of purple, or light sapphire [levi sap-
phire], and phials with moderately long necks, surrounding
them with threads made of white glass, and giving them handles

1 Post chapter xxiii.

m Chapter xxxi. book 1, of the treatise.

326

APPENDIX (a).

of the same material. They vary also their different works with
the same colours at pleasure.

CHAPTER XV.

OP GREEK GLASS, WHICH ORNAMENTS MOSAIC WORK.

They make also in the same manner as window glass, tables
of clear white glass, a finger thick, and divide them with a hot
iron into minute square morsels. They cover them on one side
with gold leaf, and spread over it the very clear glass, pounded
as above mentioned. They place the pieces of glass together on
an iron plate, — of which we shall speak a little lower down11 —
which is covered with lime or ashes, and burn them in the fur-
nace for window glass as above mentioned. Mosaic work is
very much embellished by the intermixture of glass of this kind.

CHAPTER XVI.

OF EARTHEN VESSELS PAINTED WITH DIFFERENTLY COLOURED

GLASS.

They make also open dishes [scutellas], incense boxes [navi-
cula], and other useful vessels of earthenware, which they paint
in this manner. They take colours of every kind, and pound
each separately with water, and with each colour they mix a
fifth part of glass of the same colour, pounded by itself exceed-
ingly fine with water. With this they paint circles, or arches,
or squares, and within them beasts, or birds, or leaves, or any
thing else they please. After these vessels have been thus
painted, they put them into the furnace for window glass, ap-
plying below [adhibentes inferius] fire, and logs of dry beech
wood, until the vessels being surrounded with flame acquire a
white heat. Then taking out the wood, they close up the fur-
nace as before mentioned. They can also, if they wish, decorate

" Post chapter xxiii.

APPENDIX (a).

327

the same vessels in places with gold leaf, or with ground gold
and silver, as above mentioned.

CHAPTER XVII.

OP THE MAKING OP WINDOWS.

"When you desire to construct glass windows, first make your-
self a smooth wooden board of such length and breadth that you
can work on it two panels [partes] of each window0. Then take
chalk, and scraping it with a knife over the whole table, sprinkle
water thereon in every part, and rub the table entirely over with
a cloth. When it is dry, take measure of the length and breadth
of one panel [unius partis] of the window, describe it on the
table by rule and compass, with lead, or tin. If you wish to
have a border in it, draw it of such a breadth as pleases you,
and with such workmanship as you wish. This done, draw as
many figures as you like, first with lead, or tin, then in the same
manner with a red, or black colour, making all the strokes care-
fully, because it will be necessary when you shall have painted
the glass to join the shadows and lights [on the different pieces
of glass] according to [the plan of] the board. Then arrange
the various draperies, and mark down the colour of each in its
place, and whatever else you wish to paint ; mark the colour by
a letter. After this take a small leaden vessel, and put in it
chalk pounded with water ; make yourself two or three hair
pencils, viz., of the tail of a martin, or ermine, or squirrel, or
cat, or of an ass's mane. Take a piece of glass of whatever kind
you please, which must be every way larger than the place it is
to occupy, and lay it flat on this place. When you have seen
the strokes on the board through the glass, draw with chalk
upon the glass the outer strokes only, and if the glass should be
so dense that you cannot see the strokes on the board through
it, take a piece of white glass and draw on that, and when it is
dry lay the opaque glass upon the white, raise it against the
light, and draw on it what you see through it. In the same

0 Theophilus' reason for making the board twice the size of the picture is given
subsequently in chap, xxvii.

328

APPENDIX (a).

manner you will mark all kinds of glass, whether for the face,
or the drapery, hands, feet, or border, or wherever you wish to
place colours.

CHAPTER XVIII.

OF DIVIDING GLASS.

Afterwards heat in the fire the dividing iron, which should be
thin in every part, but thicker at the extremity. When it is
red hot in the thicker part, apply it to the glass which you wish
to divide, and soon the beginning of a crack will appear. If the
glass should be hard, moisten it with saliva with your finger in
the place where you had applied the iron. As soon as it is
cracked, draw the iron in the direction in which you wish to
divide the glass, and the crack will follow the iron. All the
pieces having been thus divided, take the grosing iron? [gro-
sarium ferrum] which should be a palm long, and bent back at
each end, with which you can smoothen and fit together [con-
junges] all the pieces, each in its place. These things having
been thus arranged, take the colour with which you are to paint
the glass, which you are to compose in this manner.

CHAPTER XIX.

OF THE COLOUR WITH WHICH GLASS IS PAINTED.

Take copper, beaten small, and burn it in a small iron pipkin
until it is entirely pulverized. Then take pieces of green glass
[viridis vitri] and Greek sapphire [saphiri Greci] , and pound them
separately between two porphyry stones. Mix the three ingre-

P In _ the before-mentioned account " grosing iron." In French it is called

rolls given in Smith's Antiquities of "gresoir." A representation of one is

Westminster, the tool used by the glaziers given in Le Vieil, plate 7, fig. 3, and

for breaking the glass and working it to grosing irons are borne as a charge in the

shape is called " croisour," "croysour," arms of the glaziers' company,
or " groysour." The modern term is

APPENDIX (a). 329

dients together in the proportion of one third powder, one third
green glass, and one third sapphire. Pound them together on
the same stone with wine or urine very carefully, put them into
an iron, or leaden vessel, and paint the glass with the utmost
care, according to the strokes which are upon the board. If
you wish to make letters on the glass, you will cover those parts
of the glass entirely with the same colour, and write the letters
with the handle of the brush.

CHAPTER XX.

OF THE THREE COLOURS FOR THE LIGHTS IN GLASS [DE COLORIBUS
TRIBUS AD LUMINA IN VITRo].

If you are diligent in this work, you can make the lights and
shadows of the draperies in the same manner as in a coloured
painting [sicut in pictura colorum] . When you have made the
strokes in the drapery with the aforesaid colour, spread it with a
brush in such a manner that the glass may be clear in that part
in which you are accustomed to make a light in a picture, and
let the same stroke be dark [densus] in one part, lighter in
another, and again yet lighter, and distinguished with such care
that it may appear as if three shades of colour had been applied
[to the glass] <J. This order you should observe, below the eye-
brows, and round the eyes, and nostrils, and chin, and round
the faces of young men, round the naked feet and hands, and
other members of the naked body. And thus let the glass
painting have the appearance of a painting composed of a variety
of colours.

q The process of smear shading is here
very accurately described. I apprehend
that Theophilus, in speaking of three
gradations of tint in the shadow, only
thereby means that the wash of colour
should not be left of equal density
throughout, but should be softened off
towards the edges of the shadow with the
brush. His directions in this respect,
however, did not continue to be complied
with, for nearly all the shadows that I

have examined in Early English glass
paintings are of uniform depth in their
whole extent. Experience probably
shewed that the effect produced by a
more finely finished shadow, was not
commensurate with the labour of its ex-
ecution. In large figures belonging to
the Decorated, as well as the Early
English style, shadows executed accord-
ing to Theophilus' method, may occa-
sionally be met with.

U U

330

APPENDIX (a).

CHAPTER XXI.

OF THE ORNAMENTING OF A PICTURE IN GLASS.

Let there be also some ornament on the glass, viz., in the
draperies, in the seats [sedibus], and in the grounds [in cam-
pis] ; on the sapphire [saphiro], on the green and white, and
the bright purple coloured glass. When you have made the
first shadows in draperies of this kind, and they are dry, cover
the rest of the glass with a light colour, which should not be so
deep as the second tint of the shadow, nor so light as the third,
but a medium between the two. This being dry, make with
the handle of the brush near the shadows which you first made,
fine strokes in every part, so as to leave between these strokes
and the first shadows fine strokes of that light colour. On the
remainder of the glass make circles and branches, and in these,
flowers and leaves in the same manner in which they are made
in illuminated letters [in litteris pictis] : but the grounds,
which in the letters are filled with colours, you ought in glass
to fill with the most delicate little branches. You can also in
the circles sometimes insert small animals, and little birds and
insects, and naked figures. In the same manner you can make
grounds on the clearest white glass. You should clothe such
figures as you place on this [white] ground with sapphire [sa-
phiro] , green, purple, and red ; but on grounds of sapphire
[saphiri] and green colour painted in the same manner [as
before mentioned], and on red grounds not painted, make
the draperies of clear white, than which kind of drapery
none is more beautiful. In the borders, paint with the three
before-mentioned colours, branches and leaves, flowers and
knots, according to the process above described; and use
the same colours in the faces of the figures, and in the hands
and feet and naked limbs throughout, instead of that colour
which in the preceding book is called Pose. You should not
make much use of yellow glass in the draperies, except in

APPENDIX (a).

331

the crowns, and in those places where gold is to be placed in a
picture1-.

These things having been all arranged and painted, the glass
is to be burnt [coquendum] , and the colour fixed [confirm-
andus] in a furnace, which you will thus construct.

CHAPTER XXII.

OF THE FURNACE IN WHICH GLASS IS BURNT.

Take flexible twigs, fix them in the earth, in a corner of the
house, by each end, equally, in the form of arches ; which arches
ought to be a foot and a half high, and of like width, but a little
more than two feet long. Then strongly knead clay with water
and horse-dung, in the proportion of three parts of clay and one
of dung. This mixture having been very well kneaded, mix with
it dry hay. Make the composition into cylindrical lumps, and
cover [with it] the arch of the twigs, both within and without,
to the thickness of your fist ; and in the middle of the top leave
a round hole through which you can put your hand. Make
yourself also three iron bars, a finger thick, and long enough
to run across the width of the furnace. You can make three
holes in each end of these bars, in order that you may, when
you please, put them in and withdraw them [from the furnace] .
Then put fire and logs of wood into the furnace until it is dried.

r In the first part of this chapter the
process of ornamenting glass with diaper
patterns is described.

It is worthy of observation that the re-
commendation not to diaper red glass,
which seems to be conveyed in the text,
is to a certain extent in accordance with
the practice of the medieval glass
painters ; red glass, especially when used
in draperies, at no time being so com-
monly diapered as glass of other colours.

Some excellent hints relating to the
arrangement and disposition of colours is
also given above. One of the most valu-
able is that which regards the restricted
employment of yellow glass, the lavish
use of which is one of the vices of modern
glass paintings.

The following account of the colour
called "Pose," is taken from the third
chapter of the first book of Theophilus'
treatise, entitled, " De Posch primo."

" When you have mixed flesh colour,
and covered the faces and naked bodies
with it, mix dark green and red, — which
is obtained by burning ocre, — and a little
cinnabar, and make ' posch,' with which
you will mark the eyebrows and eyes, the
nostrils and mouth, the chin, the little
hollows about the nostrils and temples,
the wrinkles on the forehead and neck,
and the roundness of the face, the beards
of young men, and the joints of the hands
and feet, and all the limbs which are dis-
tinguished in a naked body."

332

APPENDIX (a).

CHAPTER XXTII.

HOW GLASS IS BURNT [COQUATUR] .

In the mean time make yourself an iron plate [tabulam] less
both in length and breadth by two fingers than the measure of
the interior of the furnace. On this sift dry quick lime, or ashes,
to the thickness of a straw, and press them down [compones]
with a smooth piece of wood, that they may lie firmly. The
plate should have an iron handle, by which it can be carried,
and put in and drawn out [of the furnace] . Lay upon it the
painted glass carefully, and together [conjunctum], so that the
green and sapphire glass [saphirum] may be placed on the outer
part [of the plate], near the handle; and on the inner part the
white, yellow, and purple, which are harder and resist the fire
[longer] . Then having inserted the bars, place the plate upon
them. Then take logs of beech wood well dried in smoke, and
light a moderate fire in the furnace, and afterwards increase it
with the utmost caution until you see the flames ascend on every
side between the plate and the furnace, and turn back, and
cover the glass by passing over it, and as it were licking it,
until it becomes a little white with heat. Then immediately
take out the wood, stop the mouth of the furnace carefully, as
well as the hole at top, by which the smoke used to escape,
until it cools of itself. The lime and the ashes on the plate
serve to preserve the glass from being broken to pieces on the
bare iron by the heat. Having withdrawn the glass, try whether
you can scrape off the colour with your nail, if you cannot, it is
sufficient : but if you can, put the glass into the furnace again8.
All the pieces of glass having been burned in this manner, re-
place them on the board each in its own place. Then cast rods
of pure lead in this manner.

s I have never met with any ancient
glass painting the enamel brown of which
might not be scratched off in places,
either with the point of a penknife, or
the sharp angle of a broken piece of glass.
But this softness of the enamel I am in-
clined to ascribe rather to the effect of

decomposition, than of insufficient burn-
ing. In some Early English glass paint-
ings, the whole surface of the glass is so
decomposed, that the enamel brown will
readily chip off along with portions of the
glass, on being scratched with the finger
nail.

APPENDIX (a).

333

CHAPTER XXIV.

OF THE IRON MOULDS.

Make yourself two irons two fingers broad, one finger thick,
and an ell long. Join them at one extremity like a hinge, in
order that they may keep together, being fastened by a nail, so
as to be able to open and shut. At the other extremity make
them a little broader and thinner, so that when they are shut
together, there may be, as it were, the beginning of a hollow
within. Let the outer sides be parallel, and you should so fit
the irons to each other, with a plane and a file, that [when
closed] no light shall appear between them. After this separate
them from each other, and taking a rule, make in the middle of
one of them two lines, and opposite, two lines in the middle of the
other from top to bottom, of little width. Hollow these [lines]
out with the tool used for hollowing candlesticks and other cast
metal works, as deeply as you wish. In each iron scrape a little
between the lines made with the ruler, in order that when you
pour the lead into them, it may form only one piece. You must
form the mouth into which you pour the lead in such a manner
that one part of the iron may fit into the other, so that during
the pouring it may not be unsteady.

CHAPTER XXV.

OF CASTING THE RODS [dE FUNDENDIS CALAMIs].

After this make yourself a hearth on which to cast lead, and
in the hearths a pit, in which you can place a large earthenware
pot, which you should line within and without with clay, kneaded
with dung, in order that it may be stronger. Light a large fire
upon it. When the pot is dry, put lead upon the fire in such
wise within the pot that when it is melted it may run into the

334

APPENDIX (a).

pot. Then opening the iron mould [in which the rods are to
be cast], place it on the coals, that it may become hot. You
should have a piece of wood an ell long, which at one end where
it will be held by the hand, should be round, but at the other
flat, and four fingers broad. In this end there should be a hole
cut across to the middle, according to the breadth of the iron ;
in which incision you will place the hot iron closed. You should
hold the iron by the upper part, your hand being slightly bent,
in such a manner that with its lower end it may rest on the
ground. Having taken a small iron pipkin, heated, take up in
it some of the melted lead, and pour it into the iron, and im-
mediately replace the pipkin on the fire that it may continue
hot. Throw the iron on the ground disengaged from the wood ;
open it with a knife, and having taken out the [leaden] rod,
shut the iron again, and replace it in the wood. If the lead will
not flow to the bottom of the iron, pour it again into the iron,
having previously heated the iron better. And thus continue to
heat the iron until it will allow itself to be quite filled with lead :
because if the iron is of an equal temperature you can cast with
one heating more than forty rods*.

CHAPTER XXVI.

OF WOODEN MOULDS [DE LIGNEO INFUSORIO].

But if you have no iron, take a piece of fir or other wood
which can be evenly split, of the same length, breadth and
thickness, as above [mentioned]. Having split it make it
round on the outside; then make two small marks on the
outside at each end of each face of the wood, according to the
breadth you wish the rod to be in the middle. Take a line,
[made of] a thin twisted thread, soak it in some red colour,
and having separated the pieces of wood, apply the thread on

1 The process described in this and
the preceding chapter is almost identical
with the casting of the leaden rods at the
present day, which are reduced to proper
dimensions by being passed between two

rollers. Representations of the instru-
ments used for these purposes are given
in Le Vieil, plates 7, 8, and 9. See further
remarks on the form and width of leads
Introduction, p. 27. note (k).

APPENDIX (a).

335

the inside from the mark which you have cut in the upper part,
down to the lower mark, so that it may be stretched tight.
Then apply the other piece of wood, and press both strongly
together, so that when they are separated, the colour may shew
itself on both pieces [of the wood]. Take out the thread, and
having again wetted it in the colour, fix it in the other mark,
and again lay the other piece of wood on it, and press. When
the colour appears on both sides, cut a hollow [calamum] with
a knife, as wide and as deep as you wish, but so that the groove
go not to the extremity of the wood, but only have an aperture
at top, where you are to pour in [the lead] . Which having been
done, join the pieces of wood together, binding them with a
thong of leather from top to bottom. Hold them with another
piece of wood, and pour the lead in, and having untied the
thong take out the [leaden] rod. Bind it again and pour lead
again into the wood, and this do until the charring extend to
the end of the groove. So afterwards you may pour in [lead]
lightly, as often and as much as you want. When you see that
you have rods enough, cut a piece of wood, two fingers broad,
and as thick as the rod is broad within : divide it in the midst,
so that on one side it may be whole, and in the other there may
be an incision in which a rod may be laid. Having placed the
rod in the cleft, cut it on both sides with a knife, and plane and
scrape it as you think fit.

CHAPTER XXVII.

OP PUTTING TOGETHER AND SOLDERING WINDOWS.

These things having been thus completed, take pure tin and
mix with it a fifth part of lead, and cast in the above-mentioned
iron or wood, as many rods of it as you want ; with which you
will solder your work. You should have also forty nails, one
finger long, which should be at one end slender and round, and
at the other, square aud perfectly curved, so that an opening

336

APPENDIX (a).

may appear in the middle". Then take the glass which has been
painted and burnt, and place it according to its order, on the
other part of the board on which there is no drawing. After
this take the head of one figure, and surrounding it with lead,
put it back carefully in its place, and fix round it three nails
with a hammer adapted to this purpose. Join to it the breast,
and arms, and the rest of the drapery; and whatever part you
join, fix it on the outside with nails that it may not be moved
from its place. You should then have a soldering iron, which
ought to be long and thin, but at the end thick and round, and
at the extreme end of the roundness, tapering and thin, filed
smooth, and tinned. Place this in the fire. In the mean while
take the pewter rods which you have cast, cover them with wax
on all sides, and scrape the surface of the lead in all those places
which are to be soldered. Having taken the hot iron, apply the
pewter to it wherever two pieces of lead come together : and rub
with the iron until they adhere to each other. The figures
having been fastened, arrange in like manner the grounds of
whatever colour you wish, and thus piece by piece put the win-
dow together. The window having been completed and soldered
on one side, turn it over on the other, and in the same manner
by scraping and soldering, make it firm throughout v.

u These nails seem from the above de-
scription to have been formed like a com-
mon wire skewer. In the account roll,
25 Edward III. (see Smith's "Antiq. of
Westminster," p. 197,) is a charge of
Is. 6d. for " 200 of cloryng nails, bought
to keep the glass together till it was
joined." Nails are still used by glaziers
for this purpose.

T In Smith's " Antiquities of West-
minster," Lond. 1807, p. 191, et seq.
many entries are given from the account
rolls, chiefly of the 25th Edward III.,
relating to the expenses incurred in
glazing the windows of St. Stephen's
chapel, Westminster. These entries,
especially when read in connexion with
Theophilus' treatise, throw so consider-
able light on the process of glass paint-
ing, and glazing in general, as practised
in the reign of Edward III., that I have
been induced to give here some extracts
from them.

Amongst these entries occur the prices

paid for divers quantities "of white, red,
blue, and azure coloured glass ; for small
bars called sondlets to hold the glass in
the windows ; for a long bar for a stan-
dard in a window ; for a cord to draw up
the panels of glass; for nails to fasten in
the glass; for cervis [qu. cerevisia, ale,
or wort] bought as well for the washing
of the tables of glass, as for the cooling
of the glass;" or, as it is elsewhere ex-
pressed, " for the washing of the tables
for drawing on the glass ; for croysours,
bought to break and work the glass ; for
cloryngnails to keep the glass together till
it was joined ; for suet for the soldering of
the glass windows ; for filings to make
solder ; for tin for leading the glass ; for
wax for the glaziers ; for silver filings
for painting the glass for the windows of
the chapel ; for arnement, rosyn, and
geet, for the painting of the glass."

It will be observed that "wax" and
"tin" are mentioned by Theophilus,
chapters xxvii. and xviii.,. as used in

APPENDIX (a).

337

CHAPTER XXVIII.

OF PLACING GEMS ON PAINTED GLASS.

In the figures of windows, if indeed you wish to make on the
painted glass, in the crosses, in the books, or in the ornaments
of the draperies, gems of another colour, without lead, viz., hya-
cinths [iacinctos], and emeralds, do thus. When you shall have

soldering the glass; and "nails" to hold
it in its place till soldered: and a " gros-
ing iron " to work the glass into shape.

Other entries relate to wages paid, " for
grinding colours for the painting of the
glass ; for grinding geet, and arnement,
for the painting of the glass ; for new
washing and whitening the glaziers' tables
anew ; for washing the tables for drawing
on the glass ; for drawing and painting
on white tables, several drawings for the
glass windows of the chapel ; for working
on the cutting and joining the glass for
the windows ; working on the glazing of
the windows ; joining and cooling the
glass for the windows ; breaking and
joining the glass upon the painted tables;
to two glaziers' boys, working with the
glaziers on the breaking of the glass ; to
the glaziers joining and laying the glass
for the window ; laying glass for the
quarrels 1 of the windows ; laying glass
on the tables and painting it."

To the smith, " for mending the croy-
sours for the glaziers ;" to the "scaffold
maker, making a scaffold for raising the
glass of the panels of glass in the win-
dows of the chapel ; " to "a glazier going
with the king's commission into Kent
and Essex, to procure glaziers for the
works of the chapel." To another man
" for going on the business of procuring
glass;" and to another, "for being em-
ployed on the providing of glass for the
chapel."

It appears then, that as recommended
by Theophilus, chap, xvii., the designs

for the glass were made on white tables,
and that these designs were afterwards
washed off the tables to make way for
fresh designs. The practice of destroy-
ing old designs to make room for new
ones, seems to have been followed by the
masons also, see "Archaeological Jour-
nal," No. 13, p. 14, which, as is there
suggested, may account for the few ori-
ginal designs which have been preserved.
Mr. Henry conjectures, see Henry's
" Hist, of England," vol. x. p. 112, that
the fifty-three delineations illustrating
the history of the earl of Warwick, by
John Rouse, who then resided at War-
wick, contained in a MS. in the British
Museum, (MSS. Cotton, Julius E. IV.,)
which have been published by Mr.Strutt,
are the very patterns which were delivered
to John Prudd to be painted on the win-
dows of the Beauchamp chapel, or that
these delineations were copied from the
windows after they were painted. I have
had no opportunity of comparing these
delineations with the remains of the glass
in the chapel windows, but there is nothing
in their design which would render them
unfit subjects for a painted window.

The meaning of the phrase " breaking
and joining the glass," cited above, may
be gathered from chapter xviii. of Theo-
philus' treatise. And from the mention
of "cervis to cool the glass," it seems
that it was used to wet the glass, and
make it crack, after it had been heated
with the hot iron, called by Theophilus,
the " dividing iron."

1 Quarry, or quarrel, as applied to glass, signifies properly, a pane cut in the shape of, or placed
as a lozenge. The word is most probably derived from the old French, quarel, quareau, quariau,
&c, [low Latin quarellus, quadrellus, from quadrum,] a word applied to several square or four
sided objects, and having many of the significations of the modern French, carrean.

X X

338

APPENDIX (a).

made in their places crosses in the glories, or on a book, or orna-
ments in the borders of draperies, which in a picture are made
of gold or orpiment, let these in windows be made of clear yellow
glass. When you have painted these in the way practised [opere
fabrili], select the places in which you wish to put stones, and
having taken pieces of clear sapphire, make of them hyacinths,
according to the number of the places they are to occupy ; and
make of green glass, emeralds ; and so arrange them that there
may always be an emerald between two hyacinths. These being
carefully brought together and fixed in their places, draw with a
brush a thick colour round them, in such a manner that none
shall flow between the two pieces of glass. Then burn them
with the other pieces in the furnace, and they will adhere to
each other so as never to fall off v.

CHAPTER XXIX.

OP SIMPLE WINDOWS [DE SIMPLICIBUS FENESTRIs].

If indeed you wish to compose simple windows, first make on
a wooden board the measure of the length and breadth. Then
draw knots, or any thing else you please, and having determined
the colours to be inserted, cut glass and fit it with the grosing
iron [grosa conjunge], and having applied the nails, surround it
with lead and solder it on both sides. Place around it pieces of
wood strengthened with nails, and fix it where you wish w.

CHAPTER XXX.

HOW A BROKEN GLASS VESSEL MAY BE MENDED.

If by chance a glass vessel of any kind fall, or is struck, so as
to be broken, or cracked, let it be repaired as follows. Take
ashes and sift them carefully, macerating them with water, and

v See Introduction, p. 28, note (k). to the formation of geometrical patterns

w It is clear that this chapter relates of plain white and coloured glass.

APPENDIX (a).

339

fill therewith the broken vessel, and place it in the sun to dry.
When the ashes are entirely dry, join the broken part of the
vessel, taking care that no ashes or dirt remain in the joining.
Take sapphire and green glass, which should be made to liquefy
very slightly by the heat of the fire. Pound it carefully with
water on a porphyry stone, and with a pencil draw a thin stroke
of it over the fracture. Then place the vessel on the iron plate,
raise a little that part of the vessel in which the fracture is, so
that the flame may equally pass over it. Place it in the furnace
for windows, putting under it logs of beech wood and fire, by
degrees, until the vessel becomes hot, as well as the ashes in it :
then immediately augment the fire that the flame may increase.
When you perceive that it is almost red hot, take out the wood,
and carefully stop up the mouth of the furnace, and the hole
above, until it is cool within. Then withdraw the vessel, re-
move the ashes without [using] Avater, and then wash it and
put it to such uses as you wish.

CHAPTER XXXI.

OF RINGS.

Rings are also made of glass, in this manner. Construct a
small furnace in the way before described, then take ashes, salt,
powder of copper, and lead. These things having been pre-
pared, choose such colours of glass as you wish, and having
placed underneath fire and wood, fuse them. In the mean-
while provide yourself a piece of wood a palm long, and a finger
thick : on one third part of the wood place a wooden roller a
palm long, in such a manner that you may be able to hold the
other two parts of the wood in your hand. The roller also
should remain above your head, firmly attached to the wood,
and a third part of the wood should shew itself above the roller.
The wood [of the roller] should be cut thin at the top, and so
joined with a piece of iron as a spear is joined with its point.
The iron should be a foot long, and the wood [of the roller]

340

APPENDIX (a).

should be so inserted in it, that at the juncture the iron should
be equal [in size] to the wood, and from that place should be
drawn out thinner even to the end, where it should be quite
sharp. Near the window of the furnace, on the right, — that is,
on your left, — let there stand a piece of wood of the thickness of
a man's arm, stuck in the ground, and reaching as high as the
top of the window : but on the left of the furnace, — that is, on
your right, — near the same window, let there stand a little
trough made in a piece of clay. Then the glass having been
fused, take the wood with the roller and the iron, which is called
a spit [vera], and plunge the end of the iron into a pot of glass ;
and drawing out [of the pot] the little glass that adheres to the
iron, thrust the iron strongly into the wood [which is stuck into
the ground], that the glass may be pierced through. Imme-
diately heat the glass in the fire, and strike the iron against the
wood twice, that the glass may be opened wide, and with quick-
ness turn your hand with the iron that the ring may be enlarged
into a round ; and thus turning it, make the ring descend even
to the roller, that it may become of equal shape. Immediately
drop the ring into the little trough, and work off in the same
manner as much as you want.

If you wish to vary the rings with other colours, when you
have taken the glass and pierced it through with the thin iron,
take from another pot, glass of another colour, surrounding the
glass of the ring with it, as with a thread. Then having heated
the ring in the flame as above [mentioned], complete it in the
same manner. You can also place on the ring glass of another
kind, as a gem, and heat it in the fire, so that it may adhere x.

x The instrument called veru above
described, appears to have consisted of a
short piece of wood with a handle at each
end, and in the centre an upright shaft
or roller of the same material, of the dia-
meter of the intended ring, surmounted
with a tapering iron head.

The lead seems to have been used in
order to render the glass easier to work.
It is mentioned as an ingredient of glass
in the title of one of the lost chapters of
Theophilus' treatise. The following re-
ceipt for making glass with lead is given
in Eraclius.

" How glass is made from lead. Take

lead very good and clean, and put it in a
new pot, and burn it on the fire till it be-
comes powder. Then take it from the
fire that it may cool : afterwards take
sand, and mix it with that powder, but so
that there may be two parts of lead and
the third of sand, and place it in an
earthen vessel. Do as is before di-
rected for making glass, and place the
earthen vessel in the furnace, and con-
tinue stirring it, till glass is produced.
But if you wish it to be green, take
filings of copper (aurichalcum), and put
as much as you think fit to the glass
made from lead."

APPENDIX (a).

341

Thcophilus does not describe the making of sheets of glass otherwise than
in cylinders. The chapter however which appears to have treated of the
manufacture of ruby glass is lost. That the art of flashing glass is of con-
siderable antiquity appears from a piece of French ruby glass of the middle
of the thirteenth century, in the possession of Mr. "Ward the glass painter.
This fragment is about five inches square, and it exhibits, what according to
the opinion of a very competent judge, — Mr. James Green of the Whitefriars
glass works— is the mark of a punt, or a bull's eye. In Mr. Green's opinion
this piece of glass was made by " flashing," and that in a very workmanlike
manner. The colouring matter, as is often the case with glass of this date,
constitutes about one-third of the entire thickness of the sheet ; and when
seen in section, exhibits the ruby collected into little laminae precisely as in
the specimens of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries referred to and repre-
sented ante p. 22, cut 1. The rough face of the bull's eye is on the white, or
uncoloured side of the sheet. It is barely an inch in diameter ; some of the
white glass which covered the end of the punt still adheres to the sheet. The
glass in, and immediately about the bull's eye, is a quarter of an inch thick :
the rest of the sheet being, on an average, about half that thickness. It would
appear from what has been stated, that in making this sheet of glass the work-
man collected on the blow-pipe the colouring matter first, and the white glass
last.

APPENDIX (B).

The rolls of account relating to the works carried on at
Westminster in the reign of Edward III., contain a great deal
of valuable and interesting information on the state of art, and
on the prices of materials and the rates of wages at that time.
Extracts from these rolls are printed in Smith's "Antiquities of
Westminster," and in Britton's and Brayley's " History of the
ancient Palace and late Houses of Parliament at Westminster."
From these two works, but principally from the former, the
following particulars have been selected, which may serve to
throw some light on the state of glass painting in ancient times.
The windows to which the accounts relate were those of St.
Stephen's chapel, the late House of Commons.

It appears that there was expended on these windows be-
tween the 20th of June and the 28th of Nov., 1351, about
£145 ; equal to about £1170 of the present day?.

The workmen who are said to " work on the drawing of the
images" and " draw and paint on white tables several drawings
for the windows," that is to say, those who make the designs, are
six in number. Master John de Chester, John Athelard, John
Lincoln, Simon Lenne, John Lenton, and Hugh de Lichesfeld :
of these John de Chester is paid sometimes seven shillings
(equal to five guineas at present) per week, but in general
he receives the same wages as the other five, who are styled
master glaziers, namely, one shilling a day. When these men
work on " the glazing of the windows," or " paint the glass,"
they receive the same wages. There is another set of workmen,
fifteen in number, who are paid seven-pence a day: a third,

y According to the estimate of the made, lower multiples must be taken, and

value of money made by Mr. Hallam, fifteen, twelve, and eight respectively will

" Middle Ages," vol. iii. p. 449, the pro- probably give a near approximation to

per multiples for converting into its mo- the truth.

dern equivalent, any sum mentioned in Many instances of the prices paid for
this note, the modern value of which is works of art, and of wages and remunera-
not given, would be, for sums previously tions to servants and officers, will be
to the reign of Henry VI., twenty ; for found in Devon's " Issues of the Ex-
sums during that reign, sixteen ; and for chequer," but there is nothing in that
the reign of Henry VIII., twelve; but book immediately relating to painted
in consequence of the changes which glass,
have taken place since that estimate was

APPENDIX (b).

343

three and twenty in number, who are paid sixpence a day ; and
three, who receive only four-pence, or four-pence halfpenny a
day : two of these last are termed " glaziers' boys," and they are
generally specified as grinding colours. The second class, viz.,
those at seven-pence a day, are generally described as " drawing
on the glass," or painting on the glass, while the third class, the
men of sixpence a day, are almost always mentioned as "cutting
and joining the glass, joining and cooling, joining and lay-
ing the glass, breaking and joining the glass on the painted
tables." Frequently however no particular kind of work is
specified. These wages seem much the same as those given
to workmen in other branches of art : thus, in the instance of
painters, Master Hugh de St. Albans, and John de Cotton, who
were employed in painting the walls &c. of the chapel, receive
' ' for working on the drawing of several images," and for " draw-
ing images," as well as for the other occasions on which they are
employed, one shilling a day. Two other painters receive the
same. Of the rest, four are paid ten-pence, thirteen nine-pence,
three eight-pence, three seven-pence, nine sixpence, and six five-
pence and five-pence halfpenny a day : a colour grinder receives,
as with the glass painters, four-pence halfpenny a day. One
painter, John Barneby, is paid as high as two shillings a day.
The particular nature of his work is not mentioned, he is merely
said "to work on the chapel2." Edmund Canon, master stone-
cutter, for working on the stalls is paid one shilling and six-
pence a day for 364 days. The sculpture seems generally to
have been done by task- work ; this therefore is the only instance
which we have in these accounts, to enable us to judge of the
sculptor's wages. A master mason is paid one shilling, masons
in general five-pence halfpenny a day. Carpenters are paid four-
pence, five-pence, and sixpence a day ; but one of them, William
Hurle, a master carpenter, receives seven shillings a week " for
working on the stalls."

On these wages it may be remarked that those of the inferior
workmen seem higher than they would be at the present day,
the lowest being equal to five shillings; while the master work-
men on the other hand seem to be remunerated at a lower rate

z A case occurs in the year book retained for a year for limning books at
14 Henry VI., 19, b. in which an artist is the rate of 10 marks a year.

344

APPENDIX (b).

than a leading artist of modern times would expect. But in
making this comparison it is necessary to take into considera-
tion the greater frugality and simplicity of living in ancient
times ; and on examination it would probably be found that the
gains of the ancient artist bore at least as high a proportion to
the incomes of the gentry, and to the salaries attached to offices
of trust and dignity, as those of his modern successor. Thus
in the reign of Edward the First, according to Mr. Hallama,
" an income of £10 or £20 was reckoned a competent estate
for a gentleman: at least the lord of a single manor would
seldom have enjoyed more. A knight who possessed £150
per annum passed for extremely rich : yet this was not equal
in command over commodities to £4000 at present." With re-
gard to official salaries we find that William of Wykeham was
appointed on the 30th of Oct., 1356, surveyor of the king's
w orks at the castle, and in the park of Windsor, with a salary
of one shilling a day when he staid at Windsor, and two
shillings when he went elsewhere on his employment, and
three and sixpence a week for his clerk. The following year
he received an additional salary of one shilling a dayb. In 1389
Chaucer was appointed by Richard the Second clerk of the
works at the palace of Westminster, the castle of Berkhamstead,
and several other royal residences, with a salary of two shillings
a day0. The salaries of the judges in Edward the Third's time
varied from 40 to 80 marks a year. The chief and puisne barons
of the exchequer in the 36 Edward III. had £40 : in 39 Edward
III. the justices of the bench had £40 and the chief justice of the
king's bench 100 marks'1. It seems unnecessary to seek for other
instances of this kind. Enough has been stated to shew that
the ancient workman was very liberally rewarded. From the

a Hallam, "Middle Ages," vol. iii. p.
4/51, fourth edition.

b Bishop Lowth's "Life of William of
Wykeham," p. 20. He subsequently in-
deed received ecclesiastical preferments
to a great amount. Dominus rex, it is
said, multis bonis et pinguibus beneficiis
ipsum Wilhelmum ditavit. The annual
value of these fat benefices, amounted in
the year 1366, before he was bishop of
Winchester, to £873. 6s. 8d., about
£1 3,000. But this is to be attributed to
the high place he occupied in the coun-

cils and favour of the king. " There was
at that time,'' says Froissart, "a priest in
England of the name of William of
Wykeham : this William was so high in
the king's grace that nothing was done
in any respect whatever without his ad-
vice."— Johnes' Froissart, vol. iii. p.
384, third edition.

c Turner's " History of England,"
from Goodwin's life of Chaucer. The
salary is from Britton and Brayley.

d Reeve's "History of English Law,"
vol. iii. p. 154.

APPENDIX (li).

345

modes of thinking prevalent in the middle ages he, no doubt,
held a less honourable place in society than the modern artist :
yet there was ample inducement for men of genius to devote
themselves to the cultivation of art, and, if we could free our-
selves from the prejudice that attaches to names and terms,
we might conclude, even without appealing to the testimony
afforded by his productions, that the ancient workman was
much more than a mere mechanic, and that in intelligence
and education, according to the measure of his age, he was in
no respect inferior to the modern artist.

Among the materials enumerated, in the before mentioned
accounts, for the construction of the windows, are " small bars
of iron called sondlets, to hold the glass in the windows," which
cost two-pence a pound. "Two hundred of cloryng nails to
hold the glass together till it was joined, one shilling and six-
pence 160 pounds of tin for leading the glass, at three-pence
a pound: six pounds and a half of wax, and three pounds of rosin
for the masons and glaziers, each pound of wax costing seven-
pence halfpenny, and each pound of rosin two-pence. Croysors or
Groisors to break and work the glass, costing a penny farthing
each. Cepo arietino (mutton suet), and filings to make solder
for the glass windows : servicia (qu. cervisia, ale or wort6) for the
washing of the tables for drawing the glass : cervis, as well for
the washing of the tables as for the cooling of the glass : silver
filings : geet (jet or black) : arnement and rosin : all mentioned
to be for the painting of the glass.

The greater part of the glass for the chapel is purchased be-
tween the 15th of August, 1351, and the 12th of December,
1352. White glass at the rate, some of sixpence, some of eight-
pence, some of nine-pence per ponder, the ponder containing five
pounds. The mean rate therefore at which the white glass is
purchased is nearly seven-pence three farthings per ponder, or
about one and eleven-pence of present money per pound.

The following curious entry occurs 13th Aug. 1352. " John
Lightfoot for 300 leaves of silver for the painting of a certain
window to counterfeit glass." This of course must have been a
blank window.

e Servicia, ale or wort. This is the that ale was a favourite ingredient. It is
conjecture of hoth Smith and Britton. prescribed for making glue and varnish.
From some old receipts it would seem See "Reliquiae Antiq.," vol. i. p. 163.

Y y

346

APPENDIX B .

Blue glass is purchased, some at the rate of one shilling, the
rest, and by far the largest quantity, at the rate of three shillings
and seven-pence farthing per ponder. Azure glass at three shil-
lings, and red glass at two shillings and two-pence per ponder.
Besides the glass, just mentioned, " three windows of white glass,
each containing seven feet," are purchased 13th Nov., 1331 f, at
four-pence per foot. In 1357 one window of glass bought for the
window over the chancel, forty feet, costs one shilling and two-
pence a foot. In 1365, ninety-seven feet of white glass, wrought
with flowers and bordered with the king's arms, cost one shilling
and a penny per foot. And in the same year forty-two feet of
white glass are purchased at the rate of one shilling per foot. No
charges for wages or materials are found in the printed accounts
corresponding with the dates of these four last purchases : from
this circumstance, as well as from the terms in which the first
three of them are described, it seems probable that the work-
manship was included in the price.

The following instances of the price of glass, and of the ex-
pense of constructing painted windows, have been collected from
various sources.

The cost of the glass of the north window in St. Anselm's
chapel in Canterbury cathedral, constructed in 1336, including
materials and workmanship, was £6. 13s. 4d., equal to about
£90 present money g. The presumption is that this was a
painted window.

f The pound at this time contained the to 2nd part, No. I. b. It is as follows : —
same quantity of silver as in Edward the " De nova fenestra in capella Aposto-
First's reign. Four-pence may therefore lorum Petri et Pauli. Mem. quod ann.
be taken as equal perhaps to six shillings. 1336 facta fuit una fenestra nova in eccl.

6 The whole cost of this window is con- Xpi Cant. viz. in Cap. S.S. Petri et Pauli
tained in Somner's "Antiq. of Canterbury Apost. pro quo expehs. fuerunt minis-
Cathedral," 2nded. Lond. 1703.Appendix tratae.

lb. s. d.

Imp. pro solo artificio seu labore cementariorum xxi xvii ix

item pro muri fractione ubi est fenestra - - xvi ix
item pro sabulo et calce ----- xx
item pro MM ferri empti ad dictam fenestram lxxxiv
item pro artificio fabrorum - lxv iv

item pro lapidibus Cani 1 emptis ad eandem - c
item pro vitro et labore vitrarii vi xiii iv

Summa viiilb xiii* ivrf data fuit a tram, reliqua pecunia ministrata fuit a
quibusdam amicis ad dictam fenes- Priore."

Caen stone.

APPENDIX (b).

347

By the contract entered into in 1338 for glazing the great
west window of York cathedral, the glazier was to find the glass,
and to be paid at the rate of sixpence, equal to about nine
shillings, per foot for plain, and twice as much for coloured
glass h.

In 1405, John Thornton of Coventry contracted for the exe-
cution of the great east window of the same cathedral. It was
to be finished in three years, and he was to receive four shillings
a week, and one hundred shillings at the end of each year : and
if he performed his work to the satisfaction of his employers he
was to receive the further sum of ten pounds in silver1. In-
cluding the ten pounds, the cost of this window would be equal
to above nine hundred pounds of our money; at the present
day such a window would probably cost not less than £2000.
It is remarkable that the sum agreed to be paid to John
Thornton, exclusive of the contingent ten pounds, is a trifle
less than the wages paid to the master glaziers employed on
St. Stephen's chapel for workmanship only.

In 1447 the windows of the Beauchamp chapel, at Warwick,
were contracted for at the rate of two shillings, equal to £1. 4s.
present money, per foot. They were to be glazed with a glass
from beyond seas and with no English glass," according to pat-
terns to be delivered and approved by the executors of the earl
of Warwick, and afterwards to be newly traced and painted by
another painter in rich colours at the cost of the contractor.
Foreign glass was probably much used at about this time, for
" painted glasses " occur among a number of articles, the im-
portation of which was prohibited by an act passed in 1483 on
the petition of the manufacturers of London and other towns k.

h Britton's " Hist, of York Cathedral."
Appendix viii.

1 Britton ubi supra.

k Henry's " Hist, of Great Britain,"
vol. x. 251. [2 Rich. III. ch. 12.] The con-
tract for the windows of the Beauchamp
chapel entered into with the earl's execu-
tors, is given by Dugdale, as follows : —
"John Prudde of Westminster glasier 23
Junii 25 Hen. 6. covenanteth &c. to glase
all the windows in the new chappell in
Warwick with glasse beyond the seas,
and with no glasse of England ; and that
in the finest wise, with the best, cleanest,

and strongest glasse of beyond the seas
that may be had in England, and of the
finest colours ; of blew, yellow, red, pur-
pure, sanguine, and violet, and of all
other colours that shall be most necessary
to make rich and embellish the matters,
images, and stories, that shall be de-
livered and appoynted by the said exe-
cutors by patterns in paper, afterwards to
be newly traced and pictured by another
painter in rich colour, at the charges of
the said glasier. All which proportions
the said John Prudde must make per-
fectly to fine, glase, eneylin it and finely

348

APPENDIX (b).

In 1526 the windows of King's college chapel, Cambridge,
were contracted for, some at the rate of sixteen, some at that of
eighteen-pence per foot for the glass, and two-pence per foot for
the lead

and strongly set it in lead and solder it
as well as any glasse is in England. Of
white glasse, green glasse, black glasse,
he shall use put in as little as shall be
needful for the shewing and setting forth
of the matters, images and storyes. And
the said glasier shall take charge of the
same glasse wrought and to be brought
to Warwick and set it up there, in the
windows of the said chapell : the exe-
cutors paying to the said glasier for
every foot of glasse ii shillings and so
for the whole jgxci. Is. lOd."

" It appeareth," Dugdale continues,
" that after these windows were so finished,
the executors devised some alterations, as
to the adde ... for our Lady ; and scrip-
ture of the marriage of the Earle, and
procured the same to be set forth in
glasse in most fine and curious colours;
and for the same they payd the sum of
xiii^'. vis. ivd. Also it appeareth, that
they caused the windows in the vestry to
be curiously glased with glasse of iis. a
foot, for which they payd Ls. The sum
totall for the glasse of the said Vestry
and Chappell xvili. xviii*. vid. which in
all contain by measure ; The east win-
dows cxlix foot, 1 quarter and two inches.

The south windows ccccclx foot, xi
inches.

The north windows cccv foot.

The totall dccccx foot iii quarters of a
foot and two inches."

Dugdale's " Antiquities of Warwick-
shire," 2nd edition, p. 446.

1 The following is the contract re-
ferred to in the text : —

" Indenture made the laste day of the
moneth of Aprelle in the yere of the reigne
of Henry the 8th. by the grace of God, &c.
the eightene, betwene the Right worshep-
fulle masters Robert Hacombleyn Doctor
of Divinitie and Provost of the Kynge's
College in the universitie of Cambridge,
master William Holgylle clerke master
of the Hospitalle of Seint John Baptiste
called the Savoy besydes London, and
master Thomas Larke clerke Arch-
deacon of Norwyche on that oon partie,
and Galyon Hoone of the parysshe of
Seint Mary Magdelen next Seint Mary
Overey in Suthwerke in the countie of
Surrey glasyer, Richard Bownde of the

parysshe of Seint Clement Danes without
the barres of the newe Temple of London
in the countie of Middlesex glasyer,
Thomas Reve of the parysshe of Seint
Sepulcre without Newgate of London
glasyer, and James Nycholson of Seint
Thomas Spyttell or Hospitalle in Suth-
werke in the countie of Surrey glasyer
on that other partie witnesseth, that it is
covenaunted condescended and aggreed
between the seid parties by this Inden-
ture in manner and forme fblowing, that
is to wete, that the said Galyon Hoone,
Richard Bownde, Thomas Reve and
James Nicholson covenaunte graunte
and them bynde by these presents that
they shalle at their owne propre costes
and charges well, suerly, clenely, work-
manly, substantyally, curyously and suf-
ficiently glase and sette up, or cause to
be glased and set up eightene wyndowes
of the upper story of the great churche
within the Kynge's college of Cambridge,
whereof the wyndowe in the este ende of
the seid churche to be oon, and the wyn-
dowe in the weste ende of the same
churche to be another; and so seryatly
the resydue with good, clene, sure and
perfyte glasse and oryent colors and
imagery of the story of the olde lawe and
of the newe lawe after the forme, maner,
goodeness, curyousytie, and clenelynes in
every poynt of the glasse wyndowes of
the Kynge's newe chapell at West-
mynster ; and also accordyngly and
after such maner as oon Barnard Fflower
glasyer late deceased by Indenture stode
bounde to doo, that is to sey, six of the
seid wyndowes to be clearly sett up and
fynyshed after the forme aforeseid within
twelve moneths next ensuyng after the date
of these presentes ; and the twelve wyn-
dowes residue to be clerely sett up and
fully fynysshed within foure yeres next
ensuyng after the date of these presentes;
and that the seid Galyon, Richard,Thomas
Reve and James Nycholson shalle suerly
bynde all the seid wyndowes with double
bands of leade for defence of great wyndes
and outrageous wetheringes; Furder-
more the seid Galyon, Richard, Thomas
Reve and James Nycholson covenaunte
and graunte by these presents that they
shall well and suflycyently sett up at

APPENDIX (b).

349

It would appear from these instances, notwithstanding the
high price of the Beauchamp windows, that the expense of con-

their own propre costes and charges all
the glasse that now is there redy wrought
for the seid wyndowes at suche tyme and
when as the seid Galyon, Richard, Tho-
mas Reve and John Nycholson shal be
assigned and appoynted by the seid mas-
ters RobertHacombleyn William Holgylle
and Thomas Larke or by any of them ;
and well and suffyciently shall bynde all
the same with double bandes of lede for
defence of wyndes and wetheringes, as is
aforeseid after the rate of two- pence
every foote ; and the seid masters Robert
Hacombleyn William Holgylle and Tho-
mas Larke covenaunte and graunte by
these presentes, that the foreseid Galyon,
Richard Bownde, Thomas Reve and
James Nycholson shall have for the
glasse workmanship and setting up twenty
foot of the seid glasse by them to be pro-
vided, wrought, and sett up after the forme
aboveseid eightene pence sterlinges ; Also
the seid Galyon Hoone, Richard Bownde,
Thomas Reve and James Nycholson, cove-
naunte and graunte by these that they
shalle delyver or cause to be delyvered to
Ffraunces Williamson of the paryssheof
Seint Olyff in Suthwerk in the countie of
Surrey glasyer, and to Symond Symondes
of the parysshe of Seint Margarete of
Westmynster in the countie of Middlesex
glasyer, or to either of them good and
true patrons, otherwyse called a vidimus,
for to fourme glasse and make by other
four wyndowes of the seid churche, that
is to sey, two on the oon syde and two
on the other syde, whereunto the seid
Ffraunces and Symond be bounde, the
seid Ffraunces and Symond paying to the
seid Galyon, Richard Bownde, Thomas
Reve, and James Nycholson for the seid
patrons otherwyse called a vidimus as
moche redy money as shal be thought
resonable by the foreseid masters Wil-
liam Holgylle and Thomas Larke ;"

A clause follows for making void a
bond of 500 marks entered into by the
contractors, on due performance of their
covenant.

The next contract is dated the 3rd of
May in the same year as the preceding ;
it is made between the same persons of
the one part and Ffraunces Wylliamson
and Symond Symonds above-mentioned
of the other part, and witnesseth "that
the seid Ffraunces Wylliamson and
Symond Symondes covenaunte graunte

and them bynde by these presentes that
they shalle at their owne propre costes
and charges well, suerly, clenely, work-
manly substantyally curyously and suffi-
ciently glase and sett up or cause to be
glased and sett up foure wyndowes of the
upper storyof the great churche within the
Kynge's college of Cambridge, that is to
wete two wyndowes on the oon syde of
the seid churche, and the other two wyn-
dowes on the other syde of the seid
churche with good clene perfyte glasse,"
&c. verbatim as in the preceding con-
tract. " And also accordyngly to suche
patrons otherwyse called vidimus, as by
the seid Robert Hacombleyn, William
Holgylle and Thomas Larke or by any of
them to the seid Ffraunces Wylliamson
and Symond Symonds or to either of
them shal be delyvered, for to forme
glasse and make by the foreseid four
wyndowes of the seid churche ; and the
seid Fraunces Wylliamson and Symond
Symonds covenaunte and graunte by
these presentes that two of the seid wyn-
dowes shall be clerely sett up and fully
fynyshed after the fourme aboveseid
within two yeres next ensuyng after the
date of these presentes, and that the two
other wyndowes, residue of the seid foure
wyndowes, shal be clerely sett up and
fully fynyshed within three yeres next

ensuyng after that without any

furder or longer delay ; Furdermore the
seid Fraunces Wylliamson and Symond
Symonds covenaunte and graunte by
these presentes that they shalle strongely
and suerly bynde all the seid four wyn-
dowes with double bands of leade for
defence of great wyndes and other out-
ragious wethers ; and the seid masters
Robert Haccombleyn, William Holgylle
and ThomasLarke covenaunteand graunte
by these presentes that the seid Fraunces
Wylliamson, and Symond Symonds shall
have for the glasse workmanship and
settyng up of every foot of the seid glasse
by them to be provided, wrought, and
settupp after the forme aboveseid sixtene
pence sterlynges :"

Proviso for making void a bond of
£200. — Walpole's "Anecdotes of Paint-
ing in England," 2nd ed. vol. i. Appendix.

The east window of the chapel of
Wadham college, was contracted for by
Bernard Van Linge for £100 in 1621.
Ingram's " Memorials of Oxford," vol. ii.

350

APPENDIX (b).

structing painted windows gradually diminished from the time
of Edward III., a result which might be expected, as the im-
provements that in the course of time would be introduced into
the manufacture, would naturally have the effect of rendering
the articles cheaper.

APPENDIX (0.

As there has been frequent occasion, in the course of the pre-
ceding work, to speak of the nature of the subjects which are
usually met with in painted windows, it has appeared convenient
to bring together a few descriptions of some ancient ones, which
are either still in existence, or of which accounts have come
down to us. The first of the following descriptions is taken
from Somner's " Antiquities of Canterbury," (2nd edition, by
Nicholas Battely, M.A., London, 1703,) and contains an account
of the subjects represented in the windows of the cathedral of
that city. Portions of these windows still exist, though prin-
cipally in a confused and fragmentary state, and they offer a
very ancient specimen of painted glass in this country. The
window described in Gostling's « Walk round Canterbury," as
the window next the organ loft, is at present made up of portions
of the second and third windows in Somner's description, two
thirds belonging to the former and one third to the latter.
The window next to this, is made up from the third, fourth,
and sixth windows in Somner's description. As might be
expected from the age in which they were executed, the sub-
jects will be found to represent chiefly such occurrences in
the Old and New Testament as bear, or were supposed to bear
to each other the relation of type and antitype. They were
evidently a good deal dilapidated even in Somner's time, and
it is not always easy to discover, from his description, even as
corrected by Battely, (who says he compared it with "a fair
MS. roll in parchment,") in what order the medallions con-
taining the subjects were arranged. They most probably were
placed three in a row ; this is the way in which those in the first
of the existing windows above mentioned are arranged, and it is
accordant with the arrangement which prevails in the " Biblia

352

APPENDIX (c).

Pauperum." There, as here, two types from the Old Testament
are joined to each antitype, the former being placed on each
side of the latter. The subjects of the "Biblia Pauperum"
frequently bear a considerable resemblance to those enumerated
by Somnerm. Thus the first woodcut contains, Eve and the
serpent, the Annunciation, and Gideon and the fleece. Moses
with God in the bush, is however associated with Christ lying
in the manger. The verse relating to the flourishing of Aaron's
(by Somner called Moses') rod is nearly the same as at Can-
terbury. Hie contra morem produxit virgula florem. David's
escape from Saul is associated with the flight into Egypt : and
the offering of Samuel with the presentation of Christ in the
temple : but there is rarely an agreement between the " Biblia
Pauperum" and the windows in both the types which are joined
to an antitype. As Somner is not a book of very common occur-
rence, I have inserted the whole of his description. The subject
of the painting is first briefly mentioned, and then the verses
written in the medallion are given.

m Lessing wrote an essay to shew that
the woodcuts of the " Biblia Pauperum"
were taken from painted windows. His
principal endeavour is to prove that the
forty prints, which form the most ancient
series, were taken from the forty windows
of the cloisters of the monastery of Hor-
schau on the borders of the Black forest.
The monastery was destroyed by the
French in 1692, but a minute account
of the windows, drawn up by Abbot
Parsimonius, or Karg, in 1574, is still
extant, with plans of their arrangement.
Nothing according to Lessing can be
more exact than the correspondence be-
tween the woodcuts of the " Biblia Pau-
perum," and these windows; and the two
specimens which he gives from the de-
scription by Parsimonius, confirm his
statements. There are the same subjects,
the same arrangement, the same texts
from Scripture, and the same verses, with
only one very trifling variation. Un-
fortunately an investigation into the date
of the windows shewed him that they
were more recent than the woodcuts, as
the cloisters or at least three sides of

them were built about 1491, and there
are two editions of the " Biblia Paupe-
rum," with a German text, bearing the
respective dates 1470 and 1475, while
the oldest with a Latin text is supposed
to be still more ancient. Mr. Young
Ottley thinks it not later than 1420.
Lessing, however, will not entirely give
up his opinion, but his attempts to get
over the difficulty are very unsatisfactory.
He relies much on the resemblance which
the woodcuts bear to Gothic windows, but
this resemblance will hardly strike others
so forcibly as it did Lessing. On the
whole it seems most probable, notwith-
standing the reasons he urges to the con-
trary, that the window paintings were
taken from the woodcuts. It is evident
that one of the works must have been
taken from the other, or both from a
common source. Subjects from the
"Biblia Pauperum" are of no unfre-
quent occurrence in glass paintings.
Some of them for instance are found in
one of the windows of Munich cathedral.
Ges.-ert, "Geschichte der Glasmalerei,"
p. 118.

APPENDIX (c).

353

FENESTRA IN SUPERIORI PARTE ECCLESL3E CHRISTI
CANT. INCIPIENTES A PARTE SEPTENTRIONALI.

FENESTRA PRIMA.

1 . Moses cum Rubo. In Medio. Angelus cum Maria.

Rubus non consumitur, tua nec comburitur in came virginitas.

2. Gedeon cum vellere et conca. Vellus ccelesti rore maduit, dum

puellse venter intumuit.

3. Misericordia et Veritas. In medio Maria et Elizabeth.

Plaude puer puero, virgo vetulse, quia vero
Obviat hie pietas : veteri dat lex nova metas.

4. Justitia et Pax.

Applaudit Regi previsor gratia legi.
Oscula Justitise dat pax ; cognata Marise.

5. Nabugodonosor et lapis cum statua. Puer in prasepio.

Ut Regi visus lapis est de monte recisus

Sic gravis absque viro virgo parit ordine miro.

6. In medio Maria.

7. Moses cum virga. In medio. Angelus et Pastores.

Ut contra morem dedit arida virgula florem
Sic virgo puerum, verso parit ordine rerum.

8. David. Gaudebunt campi et omnia quae in eis sunt.

9. Abacuc. Operuit ccelos gloria ejus, &c.

FENESTRA SECUNDA.

1. In medio tres Reges equitantes. Balaam. Orietur stella ex Jacob,

et exurget homo de Israel. Isaia et Jeremia. Ambulabunt gentes
in lumine tuo, &c.

2. In medio. Herodes et Magi. Christus et Gentes.

Qui sequuntur me non ambulabunt in tenebris.
Stella Magos duxit, et eos ab Herode reduxit
Sic Sathanam gentes fugiunt, te Christe sequentes.
z z

354

APPENDIX (c).

3. Pharaoh et Moses, cum populo exiens ab Egipto.

Exit ab erumpna populus ducente columpna.

Stella Magos duxit. Lux Christus utrisque reluxit.

4. In medio. Maria cum puero. Magi et Pastores. Joseph et fratres

sui cum Egiptiis.

Ad te longinquos Joseph trahis atque propinquos.
Sic De us in cunis Judseos gentibus unis.

5. Rex Solomon, et Regina Saba.

Hiis donis donat Regina domum Solomonis.
Sic Reges Domino dant munera tres, tria, trino.

6. Admoniti sunt Magi ne Herodem adeant : Propheta et Rex Jero-

boam immolans.

Ut via mutetur redeundo Propheta monetur
Sic tres egerunt qui Christo dona tulerunt.

7. Subversio Sodomse et Loth fugiens.

Ut Loth salvetur ne respiciat prohibetur.
Sic vitant revehi per Herodis regna Sabei.

8. Oblatio pueri in templo, et Simeon. Melchisedech offerens panem

et vinum pro Abraham.

Sacrum quod cernis sacris fuit umbra modernis.
Umbra fugit. Quare ? quia Christus sistitur arse.

9. Oblatio Samuel.

Natura geminum triplex oblatio trinum

Significat Dominum Samuel puer, amphora vinum.

10. Fuga Domini in Egiptum. Fuga David et Doech.

Hunc Saul infestat : Saul Herodis typus extat.
Iste typus Christi, cujus fuga consonat isti.

11. Elias Jesabel et Achab.

Ut trucis insidias Jesabel declinat Elias
Sic Deus Herodem, terrore remotus eodem.

12. Occisio Innocentum. Occisio sacerdotum Domini sub Saul.

Non cecidit David, pro quo Saul hos jugulavit
Sic non est csesus cum csesis transfuga Jesus.

13. Occisio Tribus Benjamin in Gabaon.

Ecce Rachel nati fratrum gladiis jugulati
His sunt signati puei'i sub Herode necati.

APPENDIX (c).

355

FENESTRA TERTIA.

1. Jesus sedet in medio Doctorum. Moses et Jethro cum populo.

Sic Moses audit Jethro vir sanctus obaudit
Gentiles verbis humiles sunt forma superbis.

2. Daniel in medio seniorum.

Mirantur pueri seniores voce doceri

Sic responsa Dei sensum stupent Pharisei.

3. Baptizatur Dominus. Noah in archa.

Fluxu cuncta vago submergens prima vorago
Omnia purgavit : Baptisma significavit.

4. Submersio Pharaonis et transitus populi.

Unda maris rubri spatio divisa salubri

Quae mentem mundam facit a vitio notat undam.

5. Temptatio guise et vanse gloria?. Eva capiens fiuctum.

Qui temptat Jesum movet Evam mortis ad esum
Eva guise cedit, sed non ita Jesus obedit.

6. Eva comedit.

Victor es hie Sathana : movet Evam gloria vana
Sed quo vicisti te vicit gratia Christi.

7. Tentatio cupiditatis. Adam et Eva comedunt. David et Goliah.

Quo Sathan hos subicit Sathanam sapientia vicit
Ut Goliam David, Sathanam Christus superavit.

FENESTRA QUARTA.

1. Vocatio Nathanael -\ TT. , „ ,

, . J Vidit in hns Christus sub hcu Nathanaelem.

lacentis sub hcu. ( _ . , , , . _ , T .

• j iT, „ yhex teffit hanc plebem, quasi hcus JNatna-

Adam et Eva cum folus. ( b r ^

-r, , , , \ naelem.

Populus sub lege. J

2. Christus mutavitaquam"^ Hydria metretas capiens est quselibet setas,
in vinum. Sex hydrise. ( Primum signorum Deushicprodendo suorum

Sex setates mundi. C Lympha dat historiam, vinum notat allegoriam

Sex setates hominum. J In vinum morum convertit aquam vitiorum.

356

APPENDIX (c).

3. Piscatores Apostolorum.
S. Petrus cum eccles. de
Jud.

Paulus cum ecclesia de gen-
tibus.

Verbum rete ratis Petri domushsec pietatis
Pisces Judaei, qui rete ferant Pharisei
> Ilia secunda ratis, domus hsec est plena
beatis

Retia scismaticus,et quivis scindit iniquus.

4. In medio Jesus legit in -\ Quod promulgavit Moses, legem reparavit
Synagoga. Esdras legit / Esdras amissam ; Christus renovavit omissam.
legem populo. StusGre- f Quod Christus legit, quasi pro lectoribus egit.
gor. ordinans lectores. J Exemplo cujus sacer est gradus ordinis hujus.

5. Sermo Domini in->> Hii montem scandunt Scriptures dum sacra pandunt.
monte. Doctores / Christus sublimis docet hos sed vulgus in imis
Ecclesise. Moses f Ex hinc inde datur in monte quod inde notatur
suscepit legem. J Christum novisse debemus utramque dedisse.

~ „. . , . . f Carne Deus tectus quasi vallis ad ima pro-

o. Lhnstusdescendensde !

. , vectus
monte mundatleprosum. I , . .

| Mundat leprosum genus humanum vitiosum :

Paulus baptizat popu- «{

lum. Heliseus. Naaman
et Jordanis.

Quern lavat ecce Deus quem mundat et hie
J Heliseus

Le st genus humanumChristi baptismate sanum.

FENESTRA QUINTA.

1. Jesus ejicit Demonium. Imperat immundis Deus hie equis furibundis
Angelus ligavit Demo- >■ Hiis virtus Christi dominatur ut Angelus
nium. j isti.

2. Maria unxit pedes a Curam languenti, victum qui prsebet egenti
Chr. Drusiana ves- / Seque reum plangit, Christi vestigia tangit.
tit et pascit ege- C Ilia quod ungendo facit hsec sua distribuendo
nos. J Dum quod de pleno superest largitur egeno.

3. MartaetMaria cum Jesu. Equoris unda ferit hunc ; ille silentia
Petrus in navi. Johannes > querit ;

legit. J Sic requies orat dum mundi cura laborat.

4. Leah et Rachel ^ Lyah gerit curam carnis ; Rachelque figuram
cum Jacob. / Mentis, cura gravis est hsec, est altera suavis.

APPENDIX (c).

357

5. Jesus et Apostoli^

colliguntspicas. Mo- f Quod terit alterna Mola lex vetus atque moderna
la fumus et Apostoli f Passio, crax Christe tua sermo tuus iste.
facientes panes. J

Petrus et Paulus cum \ Arguit iste reos, humiles alit hie Phariseos
populis. j Sic apice tritae panis sunt verbaque vitae.

6. Jesus cum Samaritana^ Potum quesisti fidei cum Christe sitisti
Synagogaet Moses cum / iEqua viri cui sex Synogoga librique sui sex.
quinque libris. Ecclesia f delicta notat hydria fonte relicta
de gentibus ad Jesum. J Ad te de gente Deus Ecclesia veniente.

Fons servus minans pecus hydria virgo propinans
Lex Christo gentes mulierque fide redolentes

7. Samaritana adduxit
populum ad Jesum.
Rebecca dat potum f

servo Abraham. Ja- I Jacob lassatus Rachel obvia grex adaquatus
cob obviat Rachaeli. J Sunt Deus et turbse mulier quas duxit ab urbe

FENESTRA SEXTA.

1. Jesus loquens cum^

Apostolis. Gentes / Sollicitse gentes stant verba Dei sitientes
audiunt. Pharisei f Haec sunt verba Dei quae contemnant Pharisei.
contemnunt. J

2. Seminator et volu-^\ Semen rore carens expers rationis et arens
cres. Pharisei rece- / Hii sunt qui credunt, temptantes sicque recedunt.
dentes a Jesu. Phari- C Semen sermo Dei, via lex secus hanc Pharisei
sei tentantes Jesum. J Et tu Christi sator, verbum Patris insidiator.

3. Semen cecidit inter") Isti spinosi locupletes deliciosi

spinas. Divites hujus > Nil fructus referunt quoniam terrestria que-
mundi cum pecunia. J runt.

4. Semen cecidit in terram") Verba Patris seruit Deus his fructus sibi
bonam. Job. Daniel. |> crevit

Noah. J In tellure bona, triplex sua cuique corona.

5. Jesus et mulier commis-^ Parte, Nose nati, mihi quisque sua dominati.
censsatatria.TresfiliiNoae ( Una fides natis ex his tribus est Deitatis.
cum Ecclesia. Virgines f Personam trinee tria sunt sata mista farinse
Continentes Conjugati. J Fermentata sata tria tres fructus operata.

358

APPJSNDIX C

6. Piscatores. Hinc^\ Hii qui jactantur in levam qui reprobantur
Pisces boni, inde / Pars est a Domino maledicta cremanda camino
mali. Istiin vitam f Vase reservantur pisces quibus assimulantur
seternam. J Hii quos addixit vitse Deus et benedixit.

7. Messores. Seges reponi-^ Cum sudore sata messoris in horrea lata
tur in horreum. Zizania in I Sunt hie vexati sed Christo glorificati.
ignem. Justi in vitam seter. [Hie cremat ex messe quod inutile judicat esse
nam. Reprobi in ignem seter. ) Sic pravos digne punit judex Deus igne.

8. Dequinquepanibuset~\

duob. piscibus satiavit / Hii panes legem, pisces dantem sacra Regem
multa millia hominum. f Signant quassatos a plebe nec adnihilatos.
Dus Sacerdos, et Rex. J

Synagoga cum Mose et"^ Quae populos saturant panes piscesque flgu-
libris. Ecclesia cum > rant

Johanne. J Quod Testamenta duo nobis dant alimenta.

Rex fecit nuptias filio ) Rex Pater ad natum regem sponsse sociatum :
et misit servos. j Preecipit alciri populum renuuntque venire.

Excusant se qui- ") Quos vexat cura caro. Quinque bourn juga tuta,
dem per villam. JNuncius excusans : hie ortans, ille recusans.

Petrus docens sed se-^j Sunt ascire volens Deus hunc, hie credere
quuntur Moyen et > nolens

Synagogam. ) Petrus docens istumque studens Judaea fuisti.

Johannes predicat ") Vox invitantis causa tres dissimulantis.
intente audientibus. J Sponsani Sponsus amat : vox horum previa clamat.

Ysaias predicat audi- 1 Ecclesiam Christi junctam tibi preedicat iste
entibus tribus. J His invitata gens est ad edenda parata.

Quidam sequuntur Re- 1 Hie Regis factum confirmat apostolus actum,
gem quidam fugiunt. / Credit et accedit, cito Gens Judaea recedit.

Contemplatur Rex come- ^ Ad mensam tandem cito plebs sedet omnis
dentes. Resurgant mor- > eandem.

tm- J Sic omnis eadem vox hora cogit eadem.

Dominus dicit electis ) Rex plebem pavit spretis quos ante vocavit.

venite Benedicti. / Christus se dignos reficit, rejicitque malignos.
Invenitur et ejicitur non ) Dives et extrusus servus tenebrisque reclusus.

vestitus veste nuptiali. j Quem condemnavit rex ejecit cruciavit.
Ananias et Saphiras moriuntur a Petro. Dominus ejecit vendentes

a templo.

APPENDIX (c).

359

FENESTRA SEPTIMA.

1. Curavit Jesus filiam"^
viduge. Ecclesia de
gentibuscumJesu. Pe-
trus orat et animalia
dimittuntur in linthea.

Natam cum curat matris prece ; matre figurat
Christo credentes primos, nataque sequentes.

Fide viventes signant animalia gentes ;
Quos mundat sacri submersio trina lavacri.

2. Curavit Jesus hominem^ Lex tibi piscina concordat sunt quia quina
ad piscinam. Moses cum / Ostia piscinae, seu partes lex tibi quinse.
quinque libris. Baptizat T Sanat ut eegrotum piscinae motio lotum
Dominus. J Sic cruce signatos mundat baptisma renatos.

3. Transfiguratio Domini.
Angeli vestiunt mortuos
resurgentes. Angeli ad-
ducunt justos ad Deum.

Spes transformati capitis, spes vivificati
Claret in indutis membris a morte solutis.
Cum transformares te Christe, quid insinuares
Veste decorati declarant clarificati.

4. Petrus piscatur et in-^ Hunc ascendentem mox mortis adesse vi-
venit staterem. Domi- / dentem

nus ascendit in Hier. C Tempora ; te Christe piscis praenunciat iste.
Dominus crucifigitur. J Ludibrium turbse Deus est ejectus ab urbe.

5. Statuit Jesus parvulum nO Hoc informantur exemplo qui monachantur
medio Discipulorum. Mo- | Ne dedignentur peregrinis si famulentur.
nachi lavant pedes paupe- *"

Sic incurvati pueris sunt assimulati
Reges cum gente Paulo Petroque docente.

rum. Reges inclinantur
doctrinse Petri et Pauli.

6. Pastor reportat ovem.
Christus pendet in cruce.
Christus spoliat infernum.

sine versu.

FENESTRA OCTAVA.

1 . Dominus remittit de- ") Ut prece submissa sunt huic commissa remissa
bita servo poscenti. j Parcet poscenti seu parcit Deus egenti.

360

APPENDIX (c).

Petrus et Paulus absol-^

vunt poenitentem, et j Cur plus ignoscit Dominus minus ille poposcit
Dominussibicredentes. [ Conservum servus populus te Paule protervus
Servuspercutitconser- j Regi conservo repetenti debita servo
vum. Paulus lapidatur. | Assimulare Deus Martyr nequam Pharisseus.
Stephanus lapidatur. J

Tradidit eum tortoribus."^
Mittuntur impii in ig- f Cseditur affligens, captivatur crucifigens
nem. Judsei perimun- V Hunc punit Dominus flagris, hos igne caminus.
tur. J

FENESTRA NONA.

Homo quidam descende- '
bat de Hier. in Jerico et
incidit in latrones.

Perfoi'at hasta latus, occidit ad mala natus.

Creatur Adam. For-
matur Eva, comedunt
fructum, ejiciuntur
de Paradiso.

Ex Adse costa prodiit formata virago.
Ex Christi latere processit sancta propago.
Fructum decerpens mulier suadens mala serpens
Immemor authoris vir perdit culmen honoris
Virgultum. fructus. mulier. vir. vipera. luctus
Plantatur. rapitur. dat. gustat. fallit. initur.
Posna reos tangit, vir sudat, fcemina plangit.
Pectore portatur serpens, tellure cibatur.

Sacerdos et Levita^
vident vulneratum > Vulneribus plenum neuter miseratus egenum.
et pertranseunt. J

Moses et Aaron cum
Pharaone. Scribitur
tau. Educitur popu-

Pro populo Moyses coram Pharaone laborat :
Exaugetque preces, signorum luce coronat.
Qui color est rubeus siccummare transit Hebrseus
Angelico ductu patet in medio via fluctu.

lus. Adorat vitulum. ' In ligno serpens positum notat in cruce Christum
Datur lex. Elevatur Qui videt hunc vivit, vivet qui credit in istum.
Serpens. Cernens quod speciem Deitatis dum teret aurum

Frangit scripta tenens Moyses in pulvere taurum.

APPENDIX (c).

361

Samaritanusducitvul- | Qui caput est nostrum capitur: quiregibusostrum
neratum in stabulum Prebet, nudatur: qui solvit vincla ligatur.
cumjumento. Ancilla In signo pendens. In ligno brachia tendens.
accusatPetrum. Do- In signo lignum superasti Christe malignum

minus crucifigitur. f Christum lege rei, livor condemnat Hebrsei
Sepelitur. Resurgit. Carne flagellatum, rapit, attrahit ante Pilatum
Loquitur Angelus ad Solem justitise tres, orto sole, Maria?
Marias. Qua?runt lugentes, ex ejus morte trementes.

FENESTRA DECIMA.

Suscitat Jesus puellam
in Domo. Abigael
occurrit David etmu-
tat propositum. Con-
stantinus jacens et
matres cum pueris.

Quae jacet in cella surgens de morte puella
Signat peccatum meditantis corde creatum
Rex David arma gerit,dum Nabal perdere quserit
Obviat Abigael mulier David, arma refrenat.
Et nebulam vultus hilari sermone serenat.
Rex soboles Helena?, Romana? rector habense
Vult mundare cutem quserendo cruce salutem.
Nec scelus exercet, net, humet, dictata coercet.

Dominus suscitat pue-
rum extra portam.
Rex Solomon adorat
Idola et deflet pec-
catum. Pcenitentia
Theophili.

Qui jacet in morte puer extra limina porta?
De f'oris abstractum peccati denotat actum.
Errat foemineo Solomon deceptus amore :
Errorum redimit mens sancto tacta dolore.
Dum lacrimando gemit Theophilus acta redemit
Invenies veniam dulcem rogando Mariam.

Dominus suseitatLaza-
rum. Angelus alloqui-

Mens mala mors intus ; malus actus mors foris :
usus

tur Jonam sub hedera V Tumba, puella, puer, Lazarus ista notant.

anteNinevem. [Pceni-
tentia Maria? Egip-
tiacse.

Pingitur hie Nineve jam pene peracta perire
Veste fidus Zosimas nudam tegit Mariam.

Mittit Dominus duos Dis-^l
cipul. propter asinam et
Pullum. Sp. sanctus in
specie columba? inter
Deum et hominum.

Imperat adduci pullum cum matre Magister
Paruit huic opera? succinctus uterque minis-
ter.

Signacius simplex quod sit dilectio duplex
Ala Deum dextra fratrem docet ala sinistra.
3 A

36.2

APPENDIX (c).

Jesus stans inter Petrum") Genti quae servit petris Petrum, petra mittit.
et Paulum. J Escas divinas Judeis Paule propinas.

Adducunt discipuli
Asinum et Pullum.
Petrus adducit eccle-
siam de Judeis. Pau-
lus adducit ecclesiam
de gentib.

Quae duo solvuntur duo sunt animalia bruta
Ducitur ad Christum pullus materque soluta.
De populo fusco Petri sermone corusco
Extrahit ecclesiam veram reserando Sophiam
Sic radio fidei ceeci radiantur Hebrsei
Per Pauli verba fructum sterilis dedit herba
Dum plebs gentilis per eum fit men£e fidelis
Gentilis populus venit ad Christum quasi pullus

Occurrunt pueri Do- ") Vestibus ornari patitur Salvator asellam
mino sedenti super > Qui super astra sedet, nec habet frenum neque
Asinam. J sellam.

Isaias dicit. Ecce Rex tuus"!
sedens super asinam. / ^ ™ ^ *"*

David ex ore infantum, &c. Sancti sanctorum laus ore sonat puerorum.

FENESTRA UNDECIMA.

In medio coena Domini""
David gestans se in
manibus suis. Manna
fluit populo de coelo. j

Quid manibus David se gestans significavit
^Te manibus gestans das Christe tuis manifestans
Manna fluit saturans populum de plebe figurans
De mensa Jesu dare se ccenantibus esum.

Lavat Jesuspedes Apo-^J Obsequio lavacri notat hospes in hospite sacri
stolorum. I Quos mundas sacro mundasti Christe lavacro.

Abraham Angelorum. |CumLaban hos curat, typice te Christe figurat
Laban camelorum. J Cura camelorum mandatum Discipulorum.

Proditio Jesu.
Venditio Joseph.
Joab osculatur.
Abner et occidit.

Fraus J udse Christum, fraus fratrum vendidit istum
Hii Judse, Christi Joseph tu forma fuisti.
Fcedera dum fingit Joab in funera stringit
Ferrum, Judaicum prsesignans fedus iniquurn.

Vapulatio Jesu. Job per-
cussus ulcere. Heli-
zeus et pueri irriden-
tes.

Christi testatur plagas Job dum cruciatur
Ut sum Judese, jocus pueris Helisee.

APPENDIX (c).

363

FENESTRA DUODECIMA.

Christus portat crucem.
Isaac ligna. Mulier
colligit duo ligna. J

) Ligna puer gestat, crucis typum manifestat.
LFei

Fert crucis in signum duplex muliercula lignum.

Christus suspenditur^
de ligno. Serpens
seneus elevatur in co-
lumna : Vacca rufa

' comburitur.

Mors est exanguis dum cernitur aureus anguis
Sic Deus in ligno nos salvat ab hoste maligno
Ut Moyses jussit vitulam rufam rogus ussit
Sic tua Christe caro crucis igne crematur amaro.

Dorainus deponitur de ligno. Nos a morte Deus revocavit et hunc
Abel occiditur. Heliseus ex- > Heliseus.
pandit se super pueruin. ) Signa Abel Christi pia funera funere tristi.

Moses scribit Thau in fron-^1 Frontibus infixum Thau prsecinuit cruci-
tibus in porta de sanguine fixum

agni n. Dominus in sepul- I Ut Samson typice causa dormivit amicse.
cro. Samson dormit cum ' Ecclesise causa Christi caro marmore clausa.

Dumjacetabsorptus Jonas Sol triplicatortus
Sic Deusarctatur tumulotriduoque moratur.

arnica sua. Jonasinventre
ceti.

Spoliavitinfernum. David
eripuit Oves. et Samson

, t r Salvat ovemDavid ; sic Christum significavit.
Dominus hsrans Diabolum. „, _ . . . ,

Est Samson fortis qui rupit vincula mortis.

Instar Samsonis, frangit Deus ossa Leonis.

Dum Sathanam stravit, Chrtus Regulum
tulit portas. . , .,

1 {_ jugulavit.

Surgit Dominus de sepul- -| Redditur utsalvus,quemceticlauseratalvus:
cro. Jonasejiciturdepisce. I Sic redit illesus, a mortis carcere Jesus.
David emissus per fenes- [ Hinc abit illesus David : sic invida Jesus
tram< J Agmina conturbat, ut victa morte resurgat.

AngelusalloquiturMariann Ad vitam Christum Deus ut leo suscitat
adSepulcrum. Joseph ex- I istum.

trahitur e carcere. Et |Te signat Christe Joseph ; te mors; locus
Leo suscitat filium. J iste.

n This subject, as well as that of the
lion vivificating its cub, and the woman
(of Zarephath) gathering two sticks, are
explained in the " Monographie de la Ca-

thedrale de Bourges." See the review of
this work in vol. i. of the " Archaeological
Journal," p. 169 et seq.

364 APPENDIX (c).

Sanctus Gregorius dan Hospes abest: ubi sit stupet hie, cur, quove
aquam manibus pau- I resistet.

perum, et apparuit [Membra prius quasi me suscepisti sed heri

ei Dominus. J

me.

Gregorius dictat. Pe-"| . , ,

* -t. o o r Pluns habes catum, quam Presul Pontificatum.
trus scribit0, Son- ,

f (4use liber includit signata columba recludit.
tarius cum cato p. J

Hostia mutatur in"| Id panis velat, digiti quod forma revelat.
formam digiti i. J Velans forma redit, cum plebs abscondita credit.

Gregorius trahitur) Quern nomen, vultus, lux, vita, scientia, cultus
et papa efficitur. j Approbat extractus latebris fit papa coactus.

The windows of King's college chapel, Cambridge, exhibit for
the most part the same principle of parallelism as the Can-
terbury windows, but instead of two types, one only is joined
to an antitype. As descriptions of these windows are very com-
mon, a few instances will here be sufficient. 1. Joseph cast
into the pit : Christ laid in the tomb. 2. Joseph meeting his
father and brethren in Egypt : Christ appearing to the eleven.
3. Elijah ascending to heaven: the ascension of Christ. 4.
The delivery of the law to Moses : the descent of the Holy
Ghost on the Apostles. 5. Jacob flying from the wrath of
Esau: the flight into Egypt. 6. Esau tempted to sell his
birthright : Christ tempted in the wilderness.

All these parallelisms occur in the " Biblia Pauperum they
are examples (among many others) of how much the middle age
artists confined themselves to a certain established set of sub-
jects, a practice however which is not peculiar to them, but is
observable in the works of the great masters. The types and
antitypes represented in the Sistine chapel are described in

° Peter, a deacon, and disciple of St. instructed that the pope who gave away

Gregory, saw, as it is said, on one occa- all his wealth to others was poorer than

sion when the saint was dictating to him, the hermit who retained to himself ex-

the Holy Spirit in the likeness of a dove elusive enjoyment of his cat.
seated on his head, and conveying words a This was a miracle wrought by St.

into his ears. Gregory. A woman having, during the

* This alludes to the following legend. Holy Communion, smiled from incre-
A hermit who had no possessions except dulity on hearing the bread which she
one cat,— unam cattam quam blandiens herself had made termed the body of our
crebro quasi cohabitatricem in suis gre- Lord, St. Gregory put aside the morsel
mns fovebat— having in thought com- he had offered her, and afterwards shewed
pared his poverty with the riches of the it to her changed into part of a little
saint, was admonished in a vision, and finger covered with blood.

APPENDIX (c).

365

Kugler's " Handbook of Painting," vol. i. Many valuable and
instructive remarks on the typical treatment of scriptural sub-
jects by artists, will be found in the first book, and in the
preface and notes of the English editor, see preface, p. 19, and
notes, p. 14, 53, 127, 216.

In Bourges cathedral a window is sometimes occupied by the
representation, in a series of medallions, of a single parable. In
this way are represented the parables of the prodigal son and
the good Samaritan. According to le Pere Cahier the windows
are symbolical expressions of the secret sense discoverable in the
parables. The parables were very probably read in that age
rather in a figurative than in a literal sense, but there seems to
be no evidence that the windows were intended or understood
to be any thing more than a representation of the incidents de-
picted in them1'.

r The following notice of the painted
glass formerly in the windows of the
chapel of Lambeth Palace, is taken from
"The History of the Troubles andTryal
of W. Laud, Abp. of Canterbury, by him-
self," London, 169-5, p. 311. It should
be stated that the chapel is lighted by
triplets of lancets on each side, and by
au east window consisting of five lancets.

"The windows contain the whole story
from the Creation to the Day of Judg-
ment : three lights in a window ; the two
side lights contain the types in the Old

Testament, and the middle light the anti-
type, and Verity of Christ in the New."

In a subsequent page he says, " Abp.
Morton did that work, as appears by his
device in the windows," p. 317. Cardinal
Morton, who held the see of Canterbury
from 1487 to 1500, may however have
only repaired the windows, as Laud him-
self did.

These painted windows were destroyed
during the Rebellion. See State Trials,
vol. i. p. 886, (note,) fol. td.

APPENDIX (D).

In this Appendix are inserted two extracts, one from what is
commonly called the " Vision of Piers Plowman the other
from "Piers Plowman's Creed," which may serve to illustrate
the history of glass painting. The satirical picture they pre-
sent furnishes an amusing specimen of the dexterity with which
the ecclesiastics rendered the weaknesses of the faithful sub-
servient to the decoration of their buildings, and shews that,
notwithstanding the romantic view which is sometimes taken
of the virtues of the middle ages, the simple piety of our an-
cestors was not unalloyed by vanity and ostentation, not to
speak of grosser admixtures. The principal use of the extracts
however, is to illustrate the practice of introducing armorial
bearings, and to shew how generally the figures in ancient
glass paintings may be looked upon as portraits. Portraits
were certainly introduced at a very early period j there is one,
for instance, of Suger in the glass at St. Denys, a representation
of which is given in M. Lasteyrie's work. In monumental
windows they were very common, and it is probably by means
of such a portrait that the likeness of Littleton has been
preserved8.

The censure of inscriptions recording the donor's name, which
occurs in the first extract, may call to mind Pope's lines,

"Who builds a church to God, and not to Fame,
Will never mark the marble with his name,"

and shews the antiquity of the scruples which are entertained
on this head, and which are noticed in a former part of this
work.

s " It appears from county records that
in the east window of the chancel in the
chapel of St. Leonard at Frankley, there
was a figure of a man in scarlet with a
coif on his head, in the position of prayer,
probably the original of the print pre-
fixed to the old editions of Lord Coke's

commentaries. Cornelius Jansen painted
from this likeness a full length picture of
the judge (Littleton) which is now in
the Inner Temple hall." — Phillimore's
" Memoirs of Lord Lyttleton," vol. i.
p. 4.

APPENDIX (u).

367

EXTRACT FROM <c THE VISION AND THE CREED OF PIERS
PLOUGHMAN."

" Thanne cam ther a confessour,

Coped as a frere ;

To Mede1 the rnayde

He mevedu thise wordes,

And seide ful softely,

In shrift as it were,

' Theigh lewed men and lered men

Hadde ley en by thee bothe

And Falsnesse hadde y-folwed thee

Alle thise fifty wynter,

I shal assoille thee myself

For a seemx of whete,

And also be thi bedeman,

And bere well thi message

Amonges knyghtes and clerkes,

Conscience to torne y.J

Thanne Mede for hire mysdedes
To that man kneled,
And shrof her of her sherewednesse
Shamlees I trowe ;
Told hym a tale
And took2 him a noble
For to ben hire bedeman
And hire brocur alsa.

Thanne he assoiled hire soone,
And sithen he seide,
1 We have a wyndow in werchynge

t Mede, Reward. Dr. Whittaker calls
her Bribery, but Mr. Wright in his in-
troduction to the edition from which the
present extracts are taken, says, Mede
" is the personification of that mistaken
object at which so large a portion of
mankind direct their aim — the origin of
most of the corruption and evil deeds in
this world ; not the just remuneration of
our actions which we look forward to in
a future life, but the reward which is

sought by all those who set their hopes
on the present." — " The Vision and the
Creed of Piers Ploughman, with notes,
and a Glossary, by Thomas Wright, M. A.,
F.S.A." &c. London, 1842.
u moved.

x seam, the measure so called.
>' turn.
z gave.
a also.

368

APPENDIX (d).

Wole sitten us ful hye, ■
Woldestow13 glaze that gable
And grave therinne thy name
Sykerc sholde thi soule be
Hevene to have/

f Wiste I that' quod that woman
eI wolde noght spare
For to be your frend, frere,
And faile you nevere,
While ye love lordes
That lecherie haunten.
And lakketh noght ladies
That loven wel the same.
It is freletee of flesshe,
Ye finden it in bokes,
And a cours of kynded
Wherof we comen alle.
Who may scape sclaundre,
The scathe is soone amended ;
It is synne of the sevene
Sonnest relessed.'

' Have mercy' quod Mede
' Of men that it haunteth,
And I shal covre your kirke,
Youre cloistre do makene,
Wowesf do whiten
And wyndowes glazen,
Do peynten and portraye
And paie for the makynge,
That every seggeg shal seye
I am suster of youre house.'

Ac God to alie good folk
Swich gravynge defendeth,
To writen in wyndowes
Of hir wel dedes,

An aventureh pride be peynted there,

b wouldest thou.
c certain.
rt nature.

e do maken, do whiten, &c, cause to

he made, &c.
' walls,
f man.

11 by adventure, by chance.

APPENDIX (u).

369

And pomp of the world;

For Crist knoweth thi conscience,

And thi kynde wille,

And thi cost and thi coveteise

And who the catel' oughtek.

For thi1 I lerem you, lordes,
Leveth swiche werkes ;
To writen in wyndowes
Of youre wel dedes,
Or to greden11 after Goddes men
Whan ye dele doles,
On aventure ye have youre hire here,
And youre hevene also.
Nesciat sinistra quod faciat dextra.
Lat noght thi left half0
Late ne rathe p
Wite what thow werchest
"With thi right syde ;
For thus by the gospel
Goode men doon hir almesse."

In the "Creed," from which the next extracts are taken,
"the author, in the character of a plain uninformed person,
pretends to be ignorant of his creed; to be instructed in the
articles of which, he applies by turns to the four orders of men-
dicant friars. This circumstauce affords an obvious occasion of
exposing in lively colours the tricks of those societies q."

The first of the following passages contains part of the answer
of the Minorite, or Franciscan friar.

"Certeyn, felawe' quath the frere
'Withouten any fayle
Of al men upon moldr,
We Minorites most sheweth

i goods, property.
k owned.
1 therefore.
m teach.
n cry out.

0 side.

p late nor soon.

1 Warton's " Hist, of English Poetry,'

section ix. The Creed was written sub-
sequently to the Vision, and by a differ-
ent author. The Vision, Mr. Wright
thinks, was written in the latter part of
1362. The Creed was written after the
death of Wiclif, who died in 1384.

r earth.

3 B

370

APPENDIX (d).

The pure aposteles liif,

With penance on erthe,

And suen him in sanctite,

And sufferen wel harde.

We haunten no tavernes,

Ne hobelen abouten ;

At marketes and miracles

We medeleth us never ;

We hondelen no moneye

But monelichs faren,

And haven hunger at the mete,

At ich a mel ones.

We haven forsaken the world,

And in wo libbeth,

In penaunce and poverte,

And prechethe the puple

By ensample of our liif

Soules to helpen ;

And in poverte preien

For al our parteneres,

That gyveth us any good

God to honouren,

Other1 bel other book,

Or bred to our food,

Other catel, other cloth

To coveren with our bones.

For we buldeth a burwghu,

A brod and a large,

A chirch and a chapitlex,

With chaumbers alofte;

With wide wyndowes y-wrought,

And walles wel heye,

That mote ben portreid and paint,

And pulchedy ful clene,

With gay glitering glas

Glowyng as the sunne.

s meanly.
t either.

u a castle, or large edifice.

x a chapter-house,
r polished.

APPENDIX (d).

371

And mightestouz amenden us

With moneye of thyn owen,

Thou should est knely bifore Christ

In compas of gold,

In the wide window west-ward

Wei neigh in the myddel

And Saint Fraunceis himselfe

Shal folden the in his cope,

And present the to the Trinite

And praye for thy synnes.

Thy name shal noblich ben wryten

And wrought for the nones,

And in remembraunce of the

Y-rad there for evere.

And, brother, be thou nought a-ferd ;

Bythink in thyne herte,

Though thou conne noughte thy crede,

Care thou no more ;

I shal asoilen the, Syr,

And setten it on my soule ;

And thou may maken this good

Think thou non other."

He afterwards goes on to make enquiry of the Dominicans,
Friars - preachers .

" Than thought I to fraynea the first

Of this foure ordres ;

And presed to the Prechours

To proven her wille.

Ich highed to her house,

To herken of more ;

I gaped aboute,

Swich a bildb bold

Y-buld upon erthe heighte

Say I nought in certeyn

Siththe a long tyme.

I seemed c opon that hous,

mightest thou,
inquire of.

b building.
' looked.

372

APPENDIX (d).

And yerned thereon loked,
Whou the pileres were y-paint,
And pulched ful clene
And queyntly y-corven
With curious knottes ;
With wyndowes wel- wrought
Wyde up a-lofte,
And thenne I entred in,
And even forth wente ;
And al was walled that wonee,
Through it wiid were,
With posternes in privite
To pasen when hem liste ;
Orcheyardes and erberesf
Evesedg wel clene,
And a curious cros
Craftly entayled,
With tabernacles y-tight
To lokenh al abouten,
The pris of a plough-land
Of penies so rounde
To aparaile that pyler
Were pure litel.
Than I muute me forth
The mynstre to knowen,
And awaited' a woonk
Wonderly wel y-bild,
With arches on everich half,
And belly die y-corven,
With crochetes on corneres,
With knottes of gold,
Wyde wyndowes y-wrought,
Y-wryten ful thikke,
Shynen with shapen sheldes,
To shewen aboute,

d eagerly. h look.

0 dwelling. « saw — awayte, to see or discover by

f arbours. watching.

s furnished with eaves. k a dwelling.

APPENDIX (d).

With merkes of merchauntes
Y-medeled betwene
Mo than twentie and two
Twyse ynoumbbred."

APPENDIX (E).

EXAMPLES OF MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS ON PAINTED
WINDOWS.

In a window of St. Michael's Bashishaw, under the portraits
of a man and his wife kneeling, (an engraving of them is
given,) is the following inscription : —

Adrianus D'Ewes ex illustri familia des Ewes olim dynasta-
rum ditionis de Kessel in Ducatu Gelriae prognatus, intesti-
narum patriae suae discordiarum pertcesus in Angliam aliege-
narum asylum sceptrum tenente rege Hen. VIII. recessit :
fceminamque Anglicam nomine Aliciam ex perantiqua Ravens-
croftorum familia oriundam in uxorem duxit, et quatuor de
ea genuit filios Geerardt, Jacobum, Petrum et Andream. Obiit
iste Adrianus de sudore Anglico mense Julii ann. 5 Edward VI.
ann. dom. 1551, et infra limites sacratae terrae hujus ecclesiae
inhumatur. Dicta autem Alicia maritum supervixit annis
XXVIII. et ultimum naturae debitum persolvit mense Julii
ann. dom. CIODLXXIX. et tumulatur in hac ecclesia non
procul ab istd fenestra, postquam viderat quatuor reges Angliae
viz., Hen. VII. Hen. VIII. Edw. VI. et Philippum, et ix.
reginas regni ejusdem, viz., matrem vi. uxores et duas filias
regis Hen. VIII.— Weever, p. 698.

KEDITON OK KEDINGTON (iN DIOCESE OF NORWICH).

In the south window of this church is to be seen a Barna-
diston, kneeling, in his compleat armor, his coat armor on his
breast, and behind him his seven sons. In the next pane of the
glass is Elizabeth the daughter of Newport, kneeling, with her
coat armor likewise on her breast, and seven daughters behind
her : and under it is thus written, now much defaced : —

Orate pro animabus Thomae Barnadiston, militis, et Eliza-
bethae uxoris ejus, qui istam fenestram fieri fecerunt, anno
domini MCCCC .... anima .... Deus amen.— Ibid., p. 471.

APPENDIX (e).

375

CHART MAGNA (DIOCESE OF CANTERBURY).

In the east window is thus to be read in glass,
Memoriali reuerendi patris domini Jacobi Goldwell episcopi
Norwicen.

In the midst of the east window in the south chapel of this
church, is the picture of the aforesaid Bishop Goldwell, kneeling,
and in every quarry a golden well or fountain, (his rebus or
name-device,) and cross the window inscribed,

.... Jacobo Goldwelle, episcopo Norwicien, qui .... opus
fundavit ann. Christi MCCCCLXXVIL— Ibid., p. 92.

WILLSBOROUGH.

In the east window of the south ile of this church you may
find by an inscription that one Thomas Elys Esquire and
Thomazin his wife were here buried. — Ibid., p. 87.

TUNBRIDGE.

In the north window are depicted the portraitures of the
Lord Hugh Stafford kneeling in his coat armor and his bow
bearer Thomas Bradlaine by him, with this inscription,

Orate pro animabus domini Hugonis Stafford et Thomae
Bradlaine arcuar Ibid., p. 126.

THE PRIORY OF HOLYWELL.

In most of the glass windows these two verses following (not
long since to be read) were curiously painted,

" Al the nunnes in Holywel,

Pray for the soul of Sir Thomas Lovel."

He died 25 May, ann. 1524.— Ibid., p. 211.

GREAT THORNDON.

In the glass of the east window,

Tyrrell knyth and dame and for al the soules

schuld be preyd for. — Ibid., p. 410.

376

APPENDIX (e).

BARLEY.

Orate pro salubri statu1 domini Willelmi Warliam, legum
doctoris, et Pauli London, canonici, magistri rotulorum, can-
cellarii regis, ac rectoris de Barley.

This Warham (remembered here in the glass window) was
sometime archbishop of Canterbury. — Ibid., p. 314.

UFFORD.

Orate pro bono statu Christopheri Willoughby, armigeri, et
Margerie uxoris ejus.

This is in a glass window of the church. — Ibid., p. 490.

The following extract is from Burton's "History of Leicester-
shire," 2nd edition, p. 279.

" In the east window of the chancel [of Wanlip church] .

The portrait of a knight, armed, kneeling ; on whose surcoat,
Gules two bars gemels a bend argent : against whom is his lady
in a kneeling posture, on whose under garment are the same
arms, and under whom is written : —

Orate pro anima Thomas TV^elsh Militis qui hoc templum fieri
fecit MCCCLXXXXIII et pro anima Catharinse uxoris ejus."

Other inscriptions are given in Somner's " Antiq. of Can-
terbury," pp. 328, 330, 333, 335, 336, and 337.

1 There is reason for believing that in
general, such an expression as orate pro
salubri statu, or pro bono statu, indicated
that the person mentioned was living at
the time. Thus in the instance given in
the text, it may be inferred from the
absence of any allusion to the title, that
the glass was executed before Warham
became archbishop of Canterbury. So
the inscription,— orate pro bono statu re-
ligiosi viri Johannis, Epvcapi Wygorn, —
now lost, but preserved by Habringdon,
shews that the work was done in the
bishop's lifetime, for he was translated
from Ely to Worcester in 1486.

The following inscription may also be
cited in support of this opinion.

In St. Peter's church, Canterbury.

Orate pro bono statu Johannis Bigg
armigeri, ac Aldermanni civitatis Cant,
(et Constantise consortis suae, qui me
vitrari fecerunt. Anno Domini 1473, et
specialiter pro bono statu Willelmi Bugg
civitatis Cant, et Johannae con-
sortis suae, et pro animabus parentum ac

benefactorum eorum qui hoc lumen

Anno Dom. 1468.

Appendix to Somner's " Antiq. of
Canterbury," p. 69. 2nd ed.

INDEX.

Abrading coated glass, 5, 29, 119.
Annealing glass, 2, 316.
Arabesques, 186.
Architectural skreen, 194.
Arnement, 25.

Banded quarry, 54.
Beaded ornament, 52, 85.
Belt of canopies, 38, 65, 106, 168.
Black letter, 100, 161, 197.
Blow-pipe, 13, note (b) ; 317.
Bower canopy, 155, 292.
Broad glass, 13, note (a).
Bull's eye, 14.

Cathedral glass, 13, note (a).
Cement, 18.
China red, 183.

Circular window, see Wheel window.
Clear lights, 248.

Cloryng nails, 336, note (u) ; 345.
Coated glass, 3, 15, note (d).
Coloured windows, 32, 69.
Coloured glass, 3, 19, note (k).
Coloured pattern window, 37, 71.
Common window glass, 13, note (a).
Contrast of colour, 246.
Contrast of light and shade, ib.
Corrosion of glass, 20.
Covered glass, 3.
Cross-hatching, 43, 64, 132.

Cross ornament, 86.
Crown glass, 13, note (a).
Cylinder of glass, 14, 319.

Diaper pattern, 17.
Double staining, 26, 181.

Enamel brown, 4, 16, note (f); 25.
Enamel colour, 3, 15, note (f) j 200.
Enamel method of glass painting, 5, 18.

Fat turpentine, 17.
Festoon, 192.

Figure and canopy window, 35, 66, 1 04,
167, 202.

Flashed glass, 13, note (d) ; 20, note (k).

Flat-fronted canopy, 95, 148.

Flint glass, 13, note (b) ; 19, note (k).

Flourished lines, 125.

Fluoric acid, 5.

Flux, 15, note (f).

Fritting, 2, 19, note (k); 317.

Garland, 187.

Glass blowing, 1, note (a) ; 14, note (b).
Glass furnace, 311.

378

INDEX.

Glass shade, 14.
Glaziers' diamond, 26.
Glazing panel, 18, 61, 101.
Grosing iron, 27.
Gum Senegal, 17.

Heater shield, 60, plates 8, 13.
Honeysuckle ornament, 51.

Illuminated letters, 161, 197.

Jesse window, 36, 68, 109, 169.

Kiln, 5, 18.

Lead- work, 18, 27, 259.
Leaf of lead, 27.
Lear, 14.

Lombardic capitals, 62, 100, 161, 197.
M.

Manganese, 21.
Marver, 13, note (b) j 320.
Medallion, 187.
Medallion window, 32.
Metallic frame-work, 19, note (h) ; 61,
244.

Mosaic Enamel method of glass paint-
ing, 5, 19, note (h).

Mosaic method of glass painting, 4, 16,
note (h).

Muff of glass, 14.

Panel, 33, 92.

Panelled arrangement, 54, 106.

Pattern window, 32, 104.

Picture glass painting, 104.

Picture window, 32, 39, 103.

Plain geometrical glazing, 56, 91, 140,

188, 198, 221.
Plate glass, 14.

Plated glass, 15, note (c) ; 25.
Pot-metal glass, 3.
Pressed glass, 208, 308.
Projecting fronted canopy, 148.
Proportionate quantities of light and

shade, 251.
Punt, 14, 20, note (k) ; 142.

Quarry or Quarrel, 337, note (1).
R.

Restorations, 304.
Repairs, 305.

Reticulated pattern, 54, 90.

Roman letter, 197, 224.

Rose window, see Wheel window.

Round glass, 20, 141.

Ruby glass, 3, 21, 269.

Running pattern, 55, 65, 90.

Saddle-bar, 18, 61, 101, 26J.
Sapphire, 19, note (k).
Scalloped ornament, 52.
Scroll-work, 42,51, 84, 132, 139.
Selvage, 14.

Setting to a picture glass painting, 166,
170.

Shell dome, 192.

Signature of a window, 33, note (b).

Skreen-work, 168, 194.

Smear shadow, 16, note (h) ; 218, 249.

INDEX.

379

Sondelet, 18.
Spike lavender, 17.
Stain, 3, 25,63,119,216.
Standard, 18, note (c) ; 262.
Stars of colour, 143.
Stick ornament, 132, 292.
Stipple shadow, 17, 127, 249.
Striae, 20.

Styles, definition of, 30.
Spread glass, 13, note (a) ; 319.
Sprinkled ruby, 23.

Table of glass, 319.

Tapestry background, 117.

Tegulated pattern, 54.

Texture of ancient and modern glass, 270.

Transparent shadows, 248.

Triumphal arch, 201.
Turn over of leaf, 132, 133.

Varnish colour, note to preface, 116.
Venetian glass, 20.

White glass, note to preface, 2, 19, note
(k).

Wreath, 135, 187.

Wheel window, 37, 69, 109, 169, 202.
White windows, 32, 37, 41, 69.
White patterns, 54, 64.

CUTS IN THE TEXT.

Cut 1, Comparative view of the thickness of colour on ruby glass, p. 22.

— 2, Sprinkled ruby, 24.

— 3, Diagram, shewing the width and profile of ancient and modern leads, 27.

— 4, A border, from York minster, 51.

— 5, The scalloped ornament. Stanton Harcourt church, Oxfordshire, 52.

— 6, Lullingstone church, Kent, 79.

— 7, Dorchester church, Oxfordshire, 82.

— 8, Southfleet church, Kent, ib.

— 9, Stanford church, Northamptonshire, 83.

— 10, Chartham church, Kent, ib.

— 11, Westonbirt church, Gloucestershire, 86.

— 12, Cross ornament. Temple Rothley church, Leicestershire, ib.

— 13, Stanford church, Northamptonshire, 87.

— 14, Southfleet church, Kent, 88.

— 15, Selling church, Kent, 89.

— 16, Fawkham church, Kent, 99.

— 17, Great Dunmow church, Essex, 100.

— 18, Stowting church, Kent, 128.

— 19, In the possession of Mr. Fletcher, 133.

— 20, Lambeth palace, ib.

— 21, Mells church, Somersetshire, 134.

— 22, Wanlip church, Leicestershire, 136.

— 23, Mells church, Somersetshire, 138.

— 24, Ockwell's house, Berks, ib.

— 25, Fulham palace, 160.

— 26, p. 260.

ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.

P. 7, note (y), dele "in 1800."

p. 40, note (s), add " The examples forming a series extending over the
whole of this period, and perhaps a short time immediately preceding it, and
subsequent to it." n

p. 44, line 16 from bottom, add " from the absence of colouring matter.

p. 48, last line, for " deified" read " divine."

p. 52, note (v), add « See also the aureoles or glories in plate 7 ; the
coloured triangular ornaments in plate 1 ; and the Decorated flower in cut
15, post p. 89."

p. 54, line 17 from bottom, for " loricated" read " tegulated."

p. 56, line 2 from top, add " Clearstory windows are sometimes filled with
plain glass cut to various geometrical patterns, and leaded together, the lead-
work thus defining the pattern. The pattern is sometimes entirely formed of
white glass, sometimes it is enriched by the insertion of a few small pieces of
coloured glass."

p. 59, line 4 from top, after "or," add "as is often the case in French ex-
amples."

p. 63, note (g), add " A naturally-shaped leaf may occasionally be discovered
in a late Early English glass painting, intermixed with the ordinary con-
ventional Early English foliage, but it occurs so rarely that I have not
referred to it in the text. A few such leaves may be observed in one of the
five sisters at York, and in one or two of the windows of Canterbury
cathedral."

p. 66, line 3 from bottom, after " style" add " except in clearstories.''
p. 67, line 3 from top, after " picture" add " a panel containing a shield."
p. 82, line 3 from top, for " only" read " chiefly."
p. 91, line 12 from bottom, add the following note.

" The tracery lights of two windows in the north aisle of Ash church, near
Wrotham, Kent, are filled with patterns composed of plain pieces of white
and red glass. These patterns are coeval with the ornamented quarry pat-
terns in the lower lights of the windows, and which are of the middle of the
fourteenth century."

p. 96, line 14 from top, add « A desire to admit light into the choir may
also have tended to the exclusion of coloured glass from the upper part of the
east window of Gloucester cathedral : and this supposition is strengthened by
the fact that the side windo ws of the clearstory of the choir, which are
divided by a transom into two parts, never had more than their lower part
filled with figures and canopies ; the upper tier of lower lights, as well as all
the tracery lights of each window, being filled with patterns, chiefly composed

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Full text of "An inquiry into the difference of style observable in ancient glass paintings : especially in England: with hints on glass painting"

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